


Hikari to Kage

by astrangerenters



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Blood, Heavy Angst, Injury, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Slow Burn, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 02:23:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 85,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17778788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrangerenters/pseuds/astrangerenters
Summary: The island of Isejima is the most sacred to the goddess Amaterasu, who has blessed its inhabitants with the magical ability to fight back against darkness. In this dangerous world, Sakurai Sho of Isejima pledges himself as guardian for life to an arrogant young nobleman...…but that’s just the beginning.





	1. The Light Guardian

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eggrater](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eggrater/gifts).



> To my recipient -- Given recent…events, I had to work hard to finish this ambitious story. But finish it I did! I tried to combine a few different little things in your sign-up - you may not believe this when you read it, but I legit started with the ‘stargazing’ prompt and your ‘soulmates’ tag, and my brain spiraled out of control and took a very lengthy trip to Angst-erdam. Thank you for bringing such love and joy to Arashi fandom, and I’m sorry to show my gratitude with such a dramatic story LOL. That said, I really hope you’ll enjoy this :)

Part One  
The Light Guardian

—

People who said things like “there’s no place like home” had clearly never lived on Isejima.

The island’s pathetic excuse for a harbor couldn’t accommodate most of the ships that sailed the Middle Sea these days, so smaller boats puttered to and from the docks to bring guests to shore. Improving the harborfront, making way for the bigger vessels, that would just turn Isejima into a tourist attraction, the Elders had always said. Isejima was the holiest place in the Stormlands. Letting “average” people visit was not worth the risk. So that was that.

Sho tightened his grip on his satchel as the tiny boat descended down the side of the Higashi Maru, deckhands calling out to each other as it headed toward the water. He was the only person disembarking for Isejima today, and he’d had to pay extra just for them to drop him off. Well, he reminded himself, it had been Father’s money. Just like it had been Father’s insistence that he return.

The boat landed in the water with barely a splash, and the two sailors sent along with him for the journey started to row him toward the island. He could see the unspoiled greenery come closer as they bobbed along the waves, making steady progress. The massive red torii gate stood guard in the harbor as it had for centuries. Instinctively, Sho raised a hand to his heart, bowing his head. Sho had little love for the place he’d grown up, but he had never been foolish enough to stop showing the proper respect for it. 

It had been almost two years since he’d been home, and he doubted that anyone had really missed him that terribly. His mother wrote frequent letters, and Father’s money saw to it that they reached him no matter which port Sho had found himself in. “Hello, Little Wanderer,” his mother addressed him, that condescending tone coming through even in words on paper. But he supposed that was better than the letters from Father. Those were usually quite terse. 

How long will you continue this nonsense?

When will you return and show your ancestors some respect?

There are still things you can do to honor our family, Sho.

Sho tended to rip those letters to shreds, taking only the coins his mother had sneakily enclosed for him behind Father’s back. So long as the money had kept flowing, Sho had seen no reason to return to a place where he would continue to be useless. Not when the rest of the world was such a glory to behold.

In his travels, Sho had seen so many wondrous things. The mountains that split Shuhon up the middle. The famous hot springs of Owakudani. The rolling farmland of Kyuryu and the other islands under its sway, the archipelago’s breadbasket. The snows of Kaido. Mountains and beaches and so many cities in between. He’d refused to support himself entirely on his mother’s kindness, working on construction crews or fishing boats, running errands for the scholars of the College of Miyazaki. 

The Stormlands consisted of more than 6,000 islands, and Sakurai Sho had spent his first twenty years of life on only one of them. Even now he’d just turned twenty-two and he’d only managed to set foot on less than a hundred of them. He’d been planning his next great escape when Father’s orders had arrived. Little Wanderer had no choice but to return home.

The fishy ocean smell started to mingle with the verdant freshness of the pine forests that covered the holy island. The sailors brought him to the closest dock, barely getting the coins from him before they were rowing back toward the Higashi Maru, clearly annoyed by the detour.

Sho hoisted his bag, boots thunking heavily against the wooden dock as he headed for town. As irritated as he was to be back, he did feel considerably safer. He’d almost forgotten that eerie calm, the isolation here. Although Isejima was home to more than 5,000 souls, it had always been a quiet place. It was sacred ground, the island in the archipelago most beloved by the Lady of Heaven. 

Even the Dark Lord wasn’t foolish enough to trespass on her beloved island.

The stories had been shared with him before he’d even emerged from the womb, the duties of the people who were allowed to live here on Amaterasu’s Isejima. Goddess of the Sun, Goddess of Light, the Lady of Heaven. She went by many names, and for millennia, the Stormlands archipelago had prospered under her benevolence. But infighting amongst the gods had shattered that calm nearly two thousand years ago, or at least as far back as records existed. 

There were three objects sacred to the Lady of Heaven. There was Kusanagi, the Sword of Light that traveled the islands and kept the peace. No island could claim Kusanagi in perpetuity. Instead the sacred power was shared, always moving, a reminder that all the islands had to cooperate. There was also Yata no Kagami, the Mirror of Wisdom. That object lived here on Isejima, safely stored in Ama-no-Iwato, the holy cave at the island’s center.

It was the third object that had changed the archipelago forever. Yasakani no Magatama, the Jewel of Benevolence, had been the goddess’ most beloved item. Unlike her mirror or her sword, she had never shared it with humans. The purple stone had rested at the peak of Fujisan, the archipelago’s tallest mountain, protected by an impenetrable barrier of light.

Turns out it hadn’t been completely impenetrable. The Lady of Heaven shared the cosmos with two younger brothers. The middle child, Susanoo of the Seas, had always been unfazed by his siblings’ squabbles. He stayed out of their fights. The youngest child, however, was jealous of his older sister, jealous of the islands and people under her sway. He wanted their worship, their obedience. He’d had to sacrifice a great deal of his power to do it, but Tsukuyomi, the Dark Lord, stole his sister’s sacred jewel from Fujisan.

It granted him the ability to invade their world. The theft of the jewel allowed the Dark Lord to cut slashes into the veil that separated the loneliness and perpetual night of the Dark Realm from the Stormlands. His Shadows crept in, stealing away the followers of Amaterasu, pulling them into his Dark Realm forever. The Lady of Heaven, angered by the theft of her jewel as well as her people, granted her favor to a selected number.

The inhabitants of her beloved island, Isejima, became able to wield light, to fight back the Shadows and seal off the portals the Dark Lord kept opening. And so it had been for as long as there had been records, perhaps even earlier than that. The people of the archipelago turned to the families of Isejima for help, hiring them as bodyguards and advisors and soldiers, relying on their ability to fight back against the darkness.

The people of the archipelago turned to families like Sho’s. They had for centuries. Like every inhabitant of his island, Sho too had walked alone into Ama-no-Iwato at the age of thirteen to look into the Mirror of Wisdom and pledge his life in service to Amaterasu. And just like every inhabitant of his island, the mirror glowed and blinded him, knocking him to the ground in a shockwave. And just like every inhabitant of his island, Sho had woken from that incident with a red sun branded onto his skin, just over his heart.

Apparently Amaterasu had been a little preoccupied that day, Sho had always thought. Because his magic was incredibly weak. 

After receiving Amaterasu’s brand, everyone on the island was given a staff carved from a branch of the Tree of Light that had stood beside Ama-no-Iwato for thousands of years. The staff directed their power, directed their light. It knocked back the Dark Lord’s Shadows, sealed up the Dark Lord’s portals. 

On a good day, Sho could maybe singe something. Light a candle on the other side of the room. He certainly couldn’t hold his own in a fight against Shadows. Sealing a portal was out of the question. He was pathetic.

It had been a shock to almost everyone, especially his parents. The Sakurai family of Isejima was one of the most powerful on the island. Sho’s grandfather, his mother’s father, had been Light Guardian to Lord Kenji of Clan Ishihara, the family that ruled over Shuhon, the archipelago’s largest island. The union of Sho’s father, the heir to the Sakurai family, and Sho’s mother, daughter of Lord Kenji’s Light Guardian, ought to have yielded one of the most powerful light magic users in decades.

Instead, it had yielded Sho. Weak, useless Sho.

He turned the corner, stomach twisting in knots as his family’s home finally came into view. It was one of the grandest on the island, a veritable fortress of wood and stone that had been built into the forest as though it had simply appeared there, long ago. Ancient trees soared upward from the various courtyards that dotted their property. Living here after turning thirteen had been hell for Sho. This would be his to inherit someday, the seat of the family’s power and privilege. Instead it had been a prison, the halls lined with the Light Staffs of generations of Sakurai family members. Their presence, the legacy of his ancestors, had been a constant reminder of his own failings.

He’d come of age at twenty, packed a bag, and fled. He’d made no effort to hide himself. His family had had the money to easily track him down, so there’d been no point. And thus far they’d let him stay away, likely blaming his escape on his youth, his immaturity. Little Wanderer. For two years, Sho had been allowed to mess around, to roam the archipelago for fun and adventure. For two years, Sho had let them believe that, that it was all a silly phase. For two years, Sho thought he’d eventually find a place to belong, a different purpose. He thought that he’d be able to cut off his past, cut off Isejima for good if he could just find somewhere that felt right.

When Father’s final letter reached him, Sho had still been searching. And when Father’s final letter reached him, Sho had known he’d had little choice but to obey. 

Like all of Father’s letters it had been simple, to the point.

_You will return home. You have been chosen to serve._

—

The long receiving hall was drafty, the floorboards squeaking as Sho knelt down and waited to be acknowledged.

The maids had already fussed over him, appalled at the changes Sho had made during his absence. The pierced ear, the brown dye he’d put into his hair. There was little they’d been able to do to fix the hair before he was expected to greet his father, but Takako-san had nearly yanked the earring out of his ear herself before he’d batted her hand away to do it properly, avoid injuring himself.

“This body belongs to the Lady of Heaven,” Takako-san had chided him. She’d removed the casual clothes from him, forcing him into a more subdued and traditional black kimono and gray divided-leg hakama. The old woman had nearly raised Sho herself when his parents had been young, still accepting commissions from scattered islands looking for someone to seal portals for them. “Every single hair belongs to her, Sho-chan, and every single ear as well!”

He’d missed Takako-san terribly.

In the two years Sho had been away, his father’s hair had developed a little silver. It made him look all the more distinguished and important. Sho, in contrast, probably looked like a common thug from the streets of a city far from Isejima’s shores. Father was going through his letters, sipping tea as though he had all the time in the world.

Life was much slower on Isejima. People came to them for help. It was never the other way around, so there was rarely a sense of urgency. There were no portals, no Shadows to threaten their peaceful existence here. If someone needed a Light Guardian or warrior for hire, they’d send word. And if they were important enough, they’d pay a visit.

Sho grew uncomfortable, staring across the long room at his father’s shape a few meters away. Before he’d turned thirteen, before he’d let the entire family down with his weakness, he’d spent many an afternoon in this room with his father - seated at his side rather than at a distance. He would let Sho read the letters that came in, the requests for aid. He’d reinforce the importance of what their family did, the importance of what everyone in Isejima might be called upon to do. Risking their lives, pushing the Shadows back. Protecting Amaterasu’s people.

Finally, Sakurai Naoki set down his tea, his letters, and the glass magnifier he’d started using as his years increased.

The old man raised an eyebrow at him. “It doesn’t suit you. That hair color.”

After two years, that was the opening volley? Sho bit back a nasty reply. He’d spent almost all of his teenage years running his mouth, and it hadn’t gotten him very far in the end, had it? “Hello, Father.”

“I have accepted a request for you. For a Bonding.”

Sho stared back, barely able to find words. “Why? It isn’t like you to waste other people’s time or money.”

That earned Sho a rare smile. “You always find a way to darken my hall with your self-loathing.”

Sho only hated himself because it had seemed the proper thing to do all these years. What good was he to the Sakurai family, what good was he to the Lady of Heaven? His father had certainly given him little reason to feel worthy of his attention once he’d emerged from the holy cave that fateful day. Sho had only responded to that behavior by enduring the pain until he could finally strike out on his own. 

He decided to darken his father’s hall all the more. Why not? “Does the person realize you’ve misled him? That you’ve sold him a faulty product?”

“Sho,” his father interrupted, voice raising the slightest bit.

He looked down in lieu of an apology, letting his father get a nice long look at his light brown hair. 

In most cases, the families of Isejima accepted contract assignments or allowed themselves to be drafted onto an island’s defense team. Temporary work meant to close a single portal that had emerged or to provide assistance for a set period of time. 

Bondings were different. Bondings were meant to be permanent. The person selected, the light magic user, would become a personal bodyguard to another. A Light Guardian charged with protecting that person at all costs from the darkness. His grandfather had been through a Bonding with Lord Kenji, here on the island. The cost of such an arrangement was high. With only so many people available on Isejima, old enough to leave the island to serve but young enough to still be capable of fighting back the Shadows for years to come, Isejima families charged thousands in gold for the privilege. Because that Bonded person could never help another island, another family, unless the person he or she was Bonded to wished it. 

It was selfish, Sho had always thought. Cowardly even, hogging one light magic user to yourself. In the past it had been considered the ultimate honor, being Bonded permanently with someone in front of the Mirror of Wisdom. But these days it was mostly just something rich folks did, a way to protect their heirs or show other islands and other families that they had enough gold to buy someone from Isejima’s services permanently. Where was the honor in that? They’d all sworn to serve Amaterasu. Sho wasn’t sure how something like a Bonding really served the goddess.

But what did it even matter, Sho realized. He was lacking in power anyway. Why not let his parents sell him off to the highest bidder? They’d get the glory, the honor, and the recipient would get a servant that was pretty good at lighting candles. Truly a worthy exchange.

“Lord Matsumoto has had a difficult time finding a good match for his boy,” Sho’s father continued. “He has been to Isejima three times in the last year, and the boy has been rejected three times.”

Sho looked up in surprise. The honor and the gold usually went a long way to smoothing things over. Sho couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard about a Bonding arrangement being outright rejected multiple times. While the residents of Isejima had the final say in going through with a Bonding to a commoner, they seldom let personality differences get in the way. The prestige was too high. 

“Three times?” Sho asked. “A Matsumoto of Kaido was rejected three times?”

“Lord Ishihara reached out to your mother personally. He inquired if our family knew anyone who might make a good match for the boy. It seems he owed Lord Matsumoto a favor, so he thought the reminder of your grandfather would give us a little…push to be more hospitable here on the island.”

Sho had only been to Kaido a few days in his travels, though he hadn’t paid much attention to local politics at the time. He’d been more interested in a mountain hike. Kaido was the northernmost island in the archipelago, dominated most of the year by a cold and harsh climate. Despite its challenges, the island had a large population and controlled a wide swath of territory. Because of that, the family who ruled the island, Clan Matsumoto, had long been a member of the Council of Five, the five clans that kept the peace and ensured that the Stormlands lived in harmony. Well, aside from the Dark Lord’s advances into their territory.

The Matsumoto family certainly had the wealth to buy the light magic services of someone from Isejima. And most folks Sho had grown up with would have leapt at the chance to serve one of the families on the Council of Five, even if it was unimaginably cold there. Which meant that the climate wasn’t the problem and the money wasn’t the problem.

“What’s wrong with this boy then?”

His father looked downright amused. A scary thing, indeed.

“He’s the second child of Lord Matsumoto. The elder daughter is the heir. The son is a little…obstinate. Rebellious.”

“A spoiled brat?” Sho asked.

“He sounded a lot like you, Sho.”

He had nothing to say to that, letting his father continue.

“I haven’t asked around too much about his troublemaking. I figure the families that rejected the young man had their own personal reasons for doing so, and I didn’t want to risk insulting Clan Matsumoto any further with inquiries. I’d rather not see one fifth of the Council turn away from the Lady of Heaven’s light.”

Sho let out a bitter laugh, getting to his feet even though his father had not granted him permission. Fuck the old man’s permission. “So you’re saying I’m not allowed to reject him. Is that it? I have no choice but to serve this kid the rest of my days regardless of his temperament? All to make you and mother look good?”

“Have your aimless travels revealed any truths to you, Sho?” his father asked, eyes sharp and merciless. “Has the Lady of Heaven shown you an alternate path?”

He looked away, hand drifting to cover his heart. No. No, she’d shown him nothing. He’d seen so many wonders, and yet he was still restless. Unsatisfied. But he was only twenty-two, and his father was all but demanding that he throw his freedom away, take up the task of serving as Light Guardian. 

A failure like him serving anyone. What a joke.

He could run. Again. But he doubted that Father would indulge his whims this time. He doubted that any of the fishing boats in the harbor would risk Sakurai Naoki’s wrath if they dropped Sho off at the nearest neighboring island, let him escape.

“A Bonding is serious, Father,” Sho said quietly, only loud enough for Naoki to hear him. “You know my limitations. What if I am discovered? What if I’m found to be a fraud?”

“You aren’t a fraud, Sho. You’re a Sakurai of Isejima. You are a servant of Amaterasu.”

They were words his father hadn’t said to him in a decade. They were words he’d heard as a child, when his potential was still so unknown. They were words that might have made him feel worthwhile, if only they’d been said after he’d turned thirteen. Instead he’d received little more than silence.

“Your staff is where you left it. In your room. Lord Matsumoto, his son, and their entourage will arrive in a week. In the meantime, perhaps you ought to remind yourself what it means to serve the Lady.”

“Father…”

“You are dismissed, Sho.”

—

They’d colored his hair, returning it to the black he’d been born with, if only because it would have taken the brown too long to fade before the arrival of their distinguished guests. They’d trimmed it too. The looking glass now revealed a Sho he didn’t recognize, a Sho he didn’t want to remember. 

A Sho that had fled this house, knowing he’d never be able to meet its overwhelming expectations of him.

Two years parted from his Light Staff had actually been good for him. He’d spent most of the week practicing in the courtyard, repeating the exercises that he’d hated so much as an underachieving kid. Putting his right hand to his heart, holding the staff out in his left and directing the magic given to him. Perhaps the two years of not calling upon his limited powers had made them build up, clog up inside him. 

He could hit the targets in the courtyard now, head on. Not quite a bullseye, but nothing totally shameful. His mother had even praised him, with astonishing sincerity in her voice. Not the pity he’d grown accustomed to in the past. The beams of light that burst from him were stronger now than they’d ever been even after two years of utter neglect. As a teenager, he’d usually come up short every time, scorching the grass or knocking some bark off a tree. Now he was hitting them, leaving blackened scorch marks on the painted-black bamboo that was designed to resemble a Shadow.

Sho had only seen them a few times in person, and they looked nothing like bamboo. A portal had opened a few blocks from a boardinghouse he’d been staying in during his time in Hakata. He’d felt a slight burning sensation in his chest for the first time ever, but he’d known it for what it was. Amaterasu’s call, the brand over his heart, telling him to go forth and vanquish the darkness.

He’d settled for observing from a distance, climbing up on a roof and watching them slip in from the Dark Realm. They emerged from the narrow slash that had been torn in the veil between realms, its shimmer barely visible to the naked eye. The Shadows crawled along the ground, climbed up walls like vines, hunting for easy prey. Upon coming into contact with a human, they took on a terrifying form. The Shadows became solid, a coil of black, snake-like and fast, multiplying, wrapping around whatever they could grab and leaving a putrid, oily slime in their wake. 

Sho had watched five innocent humans be stolen away, their screams echoing in the streets. The Shadows were strong, able to knock a grown adult to the ground, tightening their grip the more the human struggled, dragging them in the dirt or over street cobbles. They vanished through the portal only for more Shadows to come slipping in like a dark fog, clearly lured in by the scent of human blood, the blood of Amaterasu’s faithful.

The sudden beams of light had even sent Sho staggering back, tumbling down onto the rooftop. A team of four light magic users made the Shadows disintegrate or severed their connections to the humans they’d captured with targeted precision. They fought and they fought without end until the portal that had opened was sealed once more, as though it had never been there. Even the slimy remnants on the ground vanished, scrubbed away by the light.

Heroes. That was what it was like to witness the magical capabilities of people who had actually been blessed by Amaterasu’s full strength and focus. They’d been brave, selfless. Relentless in fulfilling their duty.

And here Sakurai Sho was, celebrating his ability to hit a bamboo target 10 meters away.

“Sho-chan!”

He turned, lowering his staff. He hadn’t realized it was nearly dusk. Takako-san was calling to him from the house. 

“The guests’ ship has been spotted off shore. Come get changed.”

He’d worked hard this week, harder than he’d worked at his magic than ever before. But would it be enough to impress Lord Matsumoto or his son? Would they demand a demonstration? Or was the man so desperate to find someone willing to Bond with his son that he’d take anyone?

Sho left his shoes by the steps, stepping up and back into the house. He followed Takako-san down the corridor, past all the rooms that housed his family’s centuries of greatness. They intimidated him still, but perhaps they could sense the important mission that lay before him. Perhaps his increased abilities, such as they were, came from the prayers of his ancestors. They were supporting him so he wouldn’t make a total fool of himself in front of such an important family.

Sweaty from his exertions in the yard, he bathed quickly before allowing himself to be dressed in the fine red kimono and silk hakama that were only worn on the most prestigious occasions. The process was formal to start, the families exchanging greetings and dining together. But in the morning, the pair of them would be left alone to get to know each other, Sho and Lord Matsumoto’s son, so that Sho could decide whether or not to go through with the Bonding. Although that decision had already been made for him by his parents, hoping to curry favor with the Council of Five. Sho’s choice in the matter wasn’t important, not with so much at stake for Isejima’s reputation. It sounded an awful lot like an arranged marriage, except that Sho was literally being sold.

This would be the Matsumoto family’s fourth visit to Isejima in a year, and Sakurai Naoki had made it clear to everyone in the household that it would be the last. Everyone was dressed in their finest clothes to greet the arrival of the leader of Clan Matsumoto, the receiving hall full of family members and servants as Sho arrived to kneel beside his parents at the front of the hall. Aunts, uncles, and cousins Sho hadn’t seen in two years had arrived from across the island to be here and support him. Well, Sho figured, a lot of them had probably come for the banquet. Or for the chance to have a look at a Lord’s son and wonder why three other families had turned him down.

His mother leaned over, resting a hand on his shoulder. “I’m proud of the man you’ve become. If you take nothing else away from this, please know that.”

He stiffened at her words, uncertain how to respond. But then the drumming began, and there was no more time to ponder if she was being truthful or not. The sounds were harsh, almost martial in tone. A sound rarely heard in Isejima, but common in the highlands of Kaido. The land was treacherous enough due to its climate. A portal opening on the island increased the danger all the more, and the Dark Lord’s Shadows had been frequent visitors there over the centuries.

“The honor guard of Clan Matsumoto,” announced the servant at the entryway.

Ten soldiers, men and women both, entered the receiving hall single file in full formal military regalia, dark helmets and breastplates, swords sheathed at their sides. They lined up opposite the Sakurai relatives, smoothly sitting together and lowering their heads.

The drumming picked up in intensity, making Sho’s heart pound. Sure, this was all for ceremony, all for show, but it didn’t make it any less intimidating.

“His supreme lordship, protector of Kaido, master of the northern islands and their waters, the Lady of Heaven’s sword and shield, Matsumoto Hideo-sama.”

All of the Sakurai family members bowed their heads, but Sho and his parents did not. It was one of the only times such a thing might be allowed, and it left Sho ready to piss himself as Lord Matsumoto entered their receiving hall. His kimono was one of the finest Sho had ever seen, violet silk that practically shimmered in the lamplight. He walked proudly, twin swords sheathed at his side, showing no sign of weakness. Showing no sign that he’d been humiliated multiple times by other Isejima families. He looked powerful, unafraid.

He walked directly to them, glancing at Sho only briefly before kneeling down before Sakurai Naoki, taking his place there.

Finally, the drumming ceased and the room went utterly silent.

Sho could see a figure in the shadows, waiting to be announced. The second child, the child nobody wished to be Bonded to. 

“His supreme lordship’s second-born,” came the announcement. “Matsumoto Jun-sama.”

The figure stepped forward, into the lamplight, and Sho felt his chest start to burn when their eyes met across the receiving hall. The sun over his heart, suddenly aflame. A sensation he hadn’t felt since that day in Hakata when the portal opened. But he refused to react, keeping his face calm as the young man approached. He was tall, slim. Even in his elaborate kimono, lavender dusted with white to resemble the snows of Kaido, Sho could tell that he lacked his father’s bulk. But he walked with grace, with confidence.

He bowed first to Sho’s mother, then Sho’s father before kneeling beside Lord Hideo. He then lifted his head, looking Sho straight on. He was younger than Sho, twenty he’d been told. He’d just come of age the summer before. Potentially handsome, provided he ever grew into the strong features that defined him. A noble face with thick eyebrows, large eyes. A smattering of pimples across his cheeks. Dark hair pulled back from his face into a lazy knot. Soft lips clearly forced into a neutral expression. Matsumoto Jun didn’t want to be here. But still the sun over Sho’s heart throbbed. What did it mean? 

“I bid you welcome to our home,” Sho’s father said. 

“You honor our family with your request,” Sho’s mother followed.

Now it was Sho’s turn. “May the Lady of Heaven shower her blessings upon all who have gathered here.”

And that was when Matsumoto Jun looked down, snorting with laughter.

The room seemed to collectively hold its breath. Laughing like that, here on Amaterasu’s most beloved island. An unforgivable insult.

Lord Hideo recovered quickly, as though his son had not just laughed off Sho’s words, laughed off the Lady’s blessings. “We thank you for your hospitality. May the Lady of Heaven bless this Bonding.”

At that, Matsumoto Jun dared to wink at Sho.

He had long had a few issues of his own with Amaterasu, but even he would never do something so reckless. Not with her holy ground beneath his feet. Just who did this kid think he was? It suddenly became clear why three families had refused to associate themselves with Matsumoto Jun. And all it had taken was one derisive laugh.

“A banquet has been prepared, Lord Matsumoto,” Sho’s father continued, unwilling to show how offensive he found the young man’s behavior to be. “Let us share a meal, and then rooms have been prepared for you and your guests so that you may rest after your long journey to the Lady’s sacred shores.”

The drumming picked up again. Usually the greeting session lasted longer, but Sho figured that most in the room wanted this over with as soon as possible. The honor guard got to their feet, filing out. Sho’s relatives followed. The two Matsumotos rose, as did Sho, his mother, and father. Lord Hideo offered his arm, and Sho’s mother accepted it. The pair departed, Sakurai Naoki walking a few steps behind.

Once they were gone, Matsumoto Jun looked Sho up and down, making some sort of assessment. “Hello there.”

“Hello, my lord,” Sho replied, bowing his head.

Matsumoto produced a folded fan from the sash of his kimono, resting it beneath Sho’s chin, using it to force his head up so their eyes might meet again. Dark brown with long eyelashes. Curious and insolent. Sho’s chest ached, and he hated it. He had no wish to be Bonded to a person who so openly disrespected the Lady of Heaven.

“Will you reject me too, Sakurai Sho?”

Father had said that Matsumoto Jun reminded him of Sho himself. He’d never been more insulted. Instead of proving Father right, Sho swallowed the rude response that he was desperate to share. He merely cocked his head, deciding to meet the arrogant young man halfway. 

“That remains to be seen, my lord.”

“You’re a devout one.” Matsumoto’s fan was digging into Sho’s skin now. “Aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“You believe in her, with all your heart?”

What was this guy getting at? Of course Sho believed in her. Who out there refused to acknowledge Amaterasu? That Matsumoto could stand here calling Sho’s faith into question…that Matsumoto could stand here on the goddess’ sacred island and speak of her so casually. It was repugnant.

“Yes, my lord,” Sho replied, pure ice in his tone. “With all my heart.”

“As expected.” Matsumoto took his fan back, a wicked smile gracing his lips. “I look forward to speaking with you more later on.”

Sho chose not to disagree, merely inclining his head. “Welcome to Isejima.” _Again_ , he thought.

Matsumoto turned, walking away with little haste. Sho could only stand there, watching him leave. Wanting to run and run until there were hundreds of islands and kilometers between them.

—

The five of them were seated at the head of the banquet table, but thankfully decorum dictated that Sho did not have to sit beside Matsumoto Jun. Lord Hideo had been given the place of honor in the center, Sho’s mother to his left and Sho’s father to his right. Jun was next to Sho’s mother, and at least seemed to have enough common sense not to say or do anything foolish in front of her. 

Sho was at the other end, eating and eating without taking much time to breathe in between bites. It was a fine distraction from the path that lay before him. The honor guard had been intermingled among Sho’s relatives, and Sho overheard bits of several conversations.

Kaido was having a worse year than usual, the Dark Lord having targeted the northernmost island without pause. As soon as one portal closed, another one seemed to open a few kilometers away. The clan’s stronghold, Matsumoto Castle, and the surrounding Matsumoto Town had largely been spared from the onslaught thus far, but things were becoming rather worrying. It had been many years since it had been this challenging.

“I have spoken with my colleagues on the Council,” Lord Hideo admitted, “and while Clan Hirano of Shukyu has also seen a rise in Shadow attacks this year in their territory, the rest of the archipelago has thankfully been spared. But that doesn’t negate the fact that Kaido will need more light magic users in the months to come. I have already sent envoys here in search of contract soldiers, and I can only expect that to increase.”

“It would be Isejima’s honor to aid you,” Sakurai Naoki said. “In whatever ways we can.”

Then why not just send me out as a contracted soldier, Sho thought bitterly. Why tie my hands for good, why force me into permanent servitude when Kaido as a whole is under threat? And Shukyu as well? Perhaps Sakurai Naoki knew that nobody would ever choose a weakling like Sho for a contract position. His father was likely just getting him out of the way now to keep the family’s honor intact. A pampered second child like Matsumoto Jun would never see the frontlines of battle against the Dark Lord’s Shadows.

The table conversations eventually shifted away from Shadow warfare and to Isejima itself. Auntie Yoko, pushing ninety, kept the table riveted with her stories of the Sakurai family’s years and years of glory. The stories left Sho with the same feelings of guilt as they always had as a teenager. He couldn’t help looking over, wondering what Lord Hideo’s son thought about Auntie’s stories.

But he looked away almost instantly, seeing that Matsumoto Jun had been watching him intently and for who knew how long.

Sho drank a little too much sake, feeling his father’s disapproval every time he refilled his small cup. But this was madness, this whole situation. He’d been free, mostly free to live as he wished. Free to seek out a new path. Perhaps he would have found his calling eventually. Or perhaps he would have kept wandering for a few more years before finding his place. But no, now he was going to spend the rest of his life shackled to a snobby brat like Matsumoto Jun. He was going to enter Ama-no-Iwato and look into Amaterasu’s mirror, informing her of his “sincere wish” to be Bonded to the guy permanently. To serve as his Light Guardian and no one else’s. That he would give his life for Matsumoto Jun’s without hesitation.

He shouldn’t have come home. Fuck the family’s honor. This couldn’t be what the Lady of Heaven wanted for him.

His words were a little slurred when he rose, bidding a good night to Lord Hideo and to his parents. But unlike Lord Hideo’s son, he knew to keep his real thoughts to himself. He made to leave the banquet hall, shaking hands and patting relatives on the shoulder, putting on a good show that everything was wonderful. That there was nothing wrong. But he could see the pain in their eyes, the pity when they bid him good night. Matsumoto Jun had little respect for Amaterasu and still Sho would serve him in her name.

The cool night air and the scent of pine were a relief when he slid the door open. He found his wooden sandals, grabbing his Light Staff from where he’d left it beside one of the targets and stumbling his way off the family’s property and into the forest. He was going to rumple and ruin the red silk, but he didn’t much care. A family like Clan Matsumoto, they’d provide him with fine clothes for the rest of his days, so what did it matter?

He could remember the high that was leaving Isejima behind, boat hopping from island to island. Walking the streets of a new city, clinging to freedom for the first time, knowing that there was nothing about him that openly declared that he was a Sakurai, that he was from Isejima, that he was one of Amaterasu’s chosen few. He’d slept around though, unwilling to be entirely alone every night, unable to hide the brand over his heart in those heated moments. But nothing lasted because all he could say were lies. That he was under contract, that he was on leave from a noble’s service. He didn’t want to see the look in someone’s eyes if they discovered that he was nothing but a coward, a runaway.

His chest ached the closer he moved to the center of the island, to Ama-no-Iwato and the destiny he hadn’t sought. So he walked away from it, escaping only as much as he could manage, walking through the forest on a familiar old path toward the island’s Western Beach. Away from the houses of Amaterasu’s chosen and into territory that was the goddess’ alone. It had comforted him as a boy, smelling the pine needles, feeling close to her as he walked the path. Feeling her cool embrace. Even after emerging from the cave, Sho had always taken comfort in his faith, in the Lady who watched over them all. Maybe she’d had her reasons for neglecting him. Maybe there’d been no reason at all. 

He emerged from the trees, discarding his sandals as he trudged through the sand. Ignoring his clothes, he sat down in a heap on the beach, listening to the lull of the waves as they crawled up the shore only a few paces away from him. Susanoo, Lord of the Seas. Sho had always wondered why he stayed out of his siblings’ fight. Why he made no effort to stop his brother’s dark attacks on the Stormlands. 

The sky was dark, a reminder of the Dark Lord’s power. And yet as it usually was, the darkness was broken by the stars, thousands of points of light. A crescent moon hung lazily in the sky behind him as well. For all the Dark Lord’s threats, the Lady of Heaven was still with them even in the night.

He tugged at his sash, loosening the kimono and the thinner, soft robe beneath it. He brushed his fingers against his chest, over the brand that had been there for nine years already. And today, he’d felt it burn. Felt it ache. Far more than it had that day in Hakata. The Lady was speaking. After so many years of silence, indifference, she was speaking. Maybe she was disappointed that the other families of Isejima had turned down the Bonding. Maybe she tolerated Matsumoto Jun’s carelessness, his disrespect. Maybe she wanted Sho to help him, even if it would be difficult.

Sho sat there for a good long while, taking in the starlight, gaining strength despite his reservations. Despite his limitations.

Once he was halfway sober again, he got to his feet, kimono hanging half open, sand stuck in his undergarments. He lifted his Light Staff, pressing his hand to his heart. “Have I displeased you?” he asked aloud as he had asked so many times in the last nine years. 

All he heard was the sound of the waves meeting the beach.

But still, there was warmth in his chest, and it wasn’t just from the alcohol he’d consumed that evening. What was she trying to say?

“You wish for this? For us to be Bonded?”

Again. Nothing.

He shut his eyes. “Lady of Heaven, I know it is not my place to question you. And I apologize for always doing so anyway. But why him?” His voice barely rose above a whisper. “Why him?”

He sighed, receiving no discernible answer. He tugged his kimono closed, getting into his sandals and fumbling his way back to the house, back to a future that still didn’t seem right.

—

Matsumoto Jun’s skin was incredibly pale now that they were out in the sunlight. He likely spent little time outdoors in the north or was bundled up when he did so. He walked with a parasol in his hands, holding on with the lightest of grips as he and Sho walked the streets of Isejima together.

The parasol was a nuisance in the corner of his eye, Jun spinning it here and there as their sandaled feet kicked up dust along the road. But Sho refused to protest, refused to let his temper get the best of him.

They would spend the entire day together like this, getting to know one another. In theory, it was a way to determine if they were suited for a Bonding. But no matter what Matsumoto said today, no matter what he did, Sho would still sit in the receiving hall come morning to deliver his answer. That he wished for Matsumoto Jun to join him in Ama-no-Iwato so that their bond might be sealed under the Lady of Heaven’s watchful eye.

Their day had gotten a late start. Jun was apparently not a morning person. That combined with the rigors of travel had knocked him out a good long while. He’d further insulted them by taking breakfast in his room rather than with Sho and his parents. But finally they were out and about, shopkeeps and other families bowing to Jun as he passed by. Even though Sho suspected every single one of them knew there was something wrong with him. This was likely the fourth time they’d seen the young lord pass by their homes and shops in the last year.

They weren’t entirely alone. Two members of the family’s honor guard hung back out of earshot, ready to jump in and save their little lord from danger. Not that there was likely to be any danger here on Isejima. Perhaps a harmless garden snake might slither across their path. Perhaps Jun would trip over a pebble. No portals would open here, no Shadows would attack them here. There was no reason to be afraid.

They’d spoken little so far, even though this time was mostly designed for Jun to be able to promote himself, to explain to Sho why his services were so needed. Instead Jun had squinted in the sunlight even under his parasol, swatting at mosquitoes and grumbling about some dressing gown he’d left behind on the family’s ship. Sho could see it as they slowly made their way along the harborfront, anchored off in the distance.

Sho decided to be amiable, even if his guest had done nothing to warrant it. “What is the name of your ship?”

The parasol twirled side to side. “The Lucky 7.”

“Where’d the name come from?”

“Well,” Jun said, voice a bit sad. “It’s because Luckys one through six sank. Not so lucky, huh?”

Sho swallowed, knowing that he could find his way aboard the ship himself in the next few days. That the trip to the northern waters could be rather treacherous at this time of year. “Ah. I see…”

Jun jostled his shoulder, laughing coldly. “That was a joke. There’s only been one Lucky, and that’s her. She’s 7 because my mother was born in the seventh month.”

Sho looked aside, seeing how proud Jun was to have successfully teased him. Lied to him. “And where is your mother? Unable to make the journey here?” After three rejections, Sho couldn’t blame the woman.

The parasol stopped moving, but Jun’s footsteps grew faster. More determined. “She’s gone.” Jun cleared his throat, reverting to that nonchalant tone of his. “Now. I would like to see your famous Sun Cliffs. I haven’t yet had a chance in my previous visits here.”

Gone? She was dead? Sho was embarrassed. He hadn’t taken time to ask his parents more about Clan Matsumoto, and now he looked tactless. Even if he didn’t much care what Matsumoto Jun thought of him, he hadn’t wished to bring up bad memories.

He shoved down the apology on the tip of his tongue, knowing it wouldn’t do him any good to deliver it. Instead he gestured to an upcoming fork in the road. “We’ll go to the left up ahead. It will be an hour’s hike, if you feel up to it.”

Sho’s mother had packed a picnic lunch for them (and for the two guards as well) and plenty of water to drink. He carried the burden on his back, his Light Staff in his left hand. Jun only carried his overly formal parasol.

“Lead the way.”

It was not the best terrain for sandals, but Sho soon learned that Matsumoto Jun was a stubborn person. As soon as they were under the forest canopy, he brought down his parasol, using it as a walking stick. He struggled, face reddening in exertion as he did his best to keep up with Sho. The guards kept their distance, even when Jun slipped in the mud, the parasol keeping him from falling flat on his face. Perhaps they were accustomed to his behavior, his pride.

The path eventually led across a shallow stream. Sho turned to look back, using his own staff to help him hike safely. “Please be careful. The rocks to go across can be slippery, and we had rain here a few nights before your arrival.”

Jun rolled his eyes, merely hoisting up the bottom of his hakama to keep it from dragging into the water. The trousers were already filthy with mud and dust as he followed Sho across the rocks.

Sho made it to the other side, turning around just in time to see Jun’s foot land a bit shakily on one of the rocks.

“My lord, please don’t hurry…”

“I’m fine…I just…”

The rock wobbled all the more beneath him, and Sho felt that odd burning in his chest again. Help him. I have to help him. Sho dropped his pack and staff, leaping from the shore just as Jun toppled forward. In order to reach him, Sho simply jumped into the stream itself, the cold water jolting him as he held out his hands, keeping Jun from falling in. 

Sho could only stand there, freezing water up to his thighs as Jun kept his balance by resting his hands on Sho’s shoulders. Their eyes met again, but this time the arrogance had gone out of Jun’s. The throb in Sho’s chest faded away, and he looked down. The last thing he needed was for the son of a Council family to crack his skull open on a rock. 

“You’ve gotten all wet,” Jun said, as though it pleased him to point out the obvious. But he was breathing heavily, his grip on Sho rather tight as he was probably realizing how close he’d come to falling, potentially hurting himself.

“I’ll dry off soon enough,” Sho muttered in reply.

By now the two guards had caught up, and Jun straightened up again, releasing him. He waved them off. “I’m fine, I’m fine. Let’s keep moving.”

The path to the cliffs eventually grew easier once they’d conquered the elevation, reaching Isejima’s northernmost point. They emerged from the trees, Sho’s legs shaking from the hike and from the chill of the water. But he couldn’t feel too annoyed when he saw the look on Jun’s face. The Sun Cliffs were the highest part of the island, a wide clearing and a sheer drop to the white foam dozens of meters below. The guards stayed close as the daredevil Matsumoto inched his way over to the cliff edge, wanting desperately to look all the way to the bottom.

Sho had never been all that fond of heights, staying well back from the edge and instead enjoying the lovely view of the vast waters beyond, the handful of small islands in the distance nothing but speckles of green against so much beautiful blue.

“Remarkable,” Jun admitted, walking all along the cliff edge for several minutes, back and forth, taking in the view from every possible angle. Sho simply felt bad for the two guards. Sho had already gone into the stream to save the reckless young lord. He wasn’t in the mood to jump off a cliff after him if he slipped this time.

Sho busied himself arranging their lunch, setting out the humble fare. Pickled vegetables, onigiri with a few fillings, some fresh shrimp from the harbor. The guards took their share and sat away from them, respecting the importance of the Bonding. Not that Sho cared. To his surprise, Jun didn’t complain about the food. After the rigorous hike, he was starving, devouring everything Sho had set out for him. He was slim, but had a ravenous appetite.

“Was it worth the journey?” Sho asked, gesturing to the cliffs. “Coming up here?”

Jun nodded, swallowing another mouthful of food. “It was. Thank you.”

The kindest words directed his way yet. But the kindness was short-lived.

“You don’t like me.”

Sho looked over, saw that Jun was staring at him again, gauging his reaction. It seemed to be a favored pastime of his, saying things and behaving in ways designed to shock, to offend.

“With all due respect, my lord, I barely know you.” It wasn’t the most diplomatic response, but it was true.

“I’m hard to like,” Jun continued. “I say what’s on my mind without considering the consequences. My father says it’s a good thing I’m not his firstborn. He’s glad I won’t replace him on the Council someday.”

Sho picked nervously at a loose thread on his hakama. “Fathers can be hard to please.”

“Is that why you ran away from yours?” 

Sho looked up in alarm, saw an odd sort of understanding in Jun’s dark eyes. 

“You think we don’t know?” he said. “We sailed all this way, and you think we didn’t inquire about you? Your suitability? Your talents…or should I say, your lack thereof?”

Sho went on the defensive. “If you already know so much about me and all that I’m _lacking_ , why did you even come?”

“Because I’m the son of a lord, and the son of a lord has a Light Guardian,” Jun said simply. “It’s all to keep up appearances. My own wishes and beliefs are irrelevant.”

“And what beliefs are those, my lord?”

“You probably already suspect them.”

“Enlighten me.”

Jun delicately laid down his chopsticks. 

“Your precious Lady of Heaven is an indifferent bitch. New portals open every day, as they’ve opened every day for hundreds of years, maybe thousands. People die screaming, every day, pulled into the Dark Realm. And what has her solution been all these years? She got careless, she got robbed, and all she thought to do was let a handful of people charge their weight in gold to put on a light show. Your goddess will never truly fight back. We don’t mean anything to her. And we never will. So the Shadows will keep coming. And people will keep dying.”

Sho gaped at him, mouth hanging open.

“But as I said,” Jun continued. “I’m the son of a lord, and the son of a lord has a Light Guardian. I don’t care if you’re weak because your power doesn’t matter, and it won’t matter for much longer. We’ll find a way to push the Shadows back without relying on families like yours. One day we’ll be able to save ourselves. So fuck the Lady. And fuck self-important people like you.”

Sho spied his Light Staff, just an arm’s reach away. Never before in his life had he felt compelled to use it against another human. He wondered if he could turn Matsumoto Jun into a pile of ash. Or maybe he could simply get up, let his rage propel him into action, use it to hurl the asshole off the cliff’s edge.

“You blaspheme,” he mumbled, voice quivering in anger.

“I say what’s on my mind. I already told you. It simply differs from your own worldview.”

“Oh, is that all?” Sho hissed.

Jun leaned in, unashamed of his words. “My father is at his wit’s end. He’s likely to disown me if I’m rejected again, if I humiliate him again. Frankly, I could care less. What was it like, Sho-san? To run away? To have a true taste of freedom?”

Sho ignored the questions. “Perhaps it is a blessing that your mother is gone, Matsumoto Jun, so she doesn’t have to see the man you’ve become.”

As soon as he said it, he regretted it. However foolish Jun’s beliefs, however terrible it was for him to openly blaspheme on the Lady’s sacred island, Sho’s response was uncalled for. Such words were unconscionable.

Sho looked down. “My lord, I apologize…”

“Don’t.” Jun’s voice was softer then. “Don’t take it back. You’re right anyway.”

Sho looked over, saw that their argument had not even drifted in the guards’ direction. They went on eating, oblivious. He looked into Jun’s face, seeing the seriousness in his eyes.

“Do you truly believe what you say or are you only saying it so I reject you, the same as the others?” Sho asked quietly.

“I don’t dislike you, Sho-san. So that ‘fuck you’ bit was a little…exaggerated on my part. I’m sorry. As for the rest…” 

Jun resumed eating. 

Sho closed his eyes, feeling that burning sensation in his chest return. After so many years of silence, the Lady was pointing the way. A way that made such little sense. But unlike Matsumoto Jun, Sho couldn’t imagine turning away from her light. He could not ignore her wishes, confusing as they were.

They finished their meal and then their hike in silence. This time that ought to have been theirs came to an end, Jun and his parasol drifting off in a different direction as soon as they returned from the cliffs. Clearly he’d said all he wanted Sho to know about him.

Sho made no move to go after him, catching the sympathetic looks from the honor guards as they followed their young, impetuous lord.

Takako-san was waiting for him when he returned. She didn’t seem surprised that he’d come home so early, the sun still shining in the sky. The old woman trailed him to his room, waiting for Sho to shut the door before holding open her arms to him.

“You deserve more,” Takako-san said, rubbing his back gently as she had so often when he was a boy and his parents had left him alone, had departed to fulfill their frequently contracted duties. “You deserve better.”

“Do I?” he murmured, and she squeezed him tighter.

—

There were no relatives present, and the honor guard was having breakfast. Only Sho, Jun, and their parents needed to be present the following morning.

Sho entered the receiving hall last, the person of honor, kneeling before Jun and bowing low to him. Much as Jun clearly didn’t want to, he said the words required of him.

“Sakurai Sho,” Jun said quietly. “What is your answer?”

Sho lifted his head, could tell that Jun wanted him to decline. No matter the consequences for him. Even if his father disowned him. 

Too bad.

Sho took a breath. “Matsumoto Jun-sama. It is my wish for you to join me today in the Lady of Heaven’s holy cave, Ama-no-Iwato. There our Bond will be sealed under her watchful eye.”

He could see Jun’s eyes widen in alarm. His insults hadn’t worked. Neither had his blasphemy. Much as Sho was disappointed about the path ahead, he took some pleasure in Jun’s obvious horror. A lord’s son would have his Light Guardian.

“Praise be to the Lady for smiling on this Bonding,” Sho’s mother said before Jun could protest, voice full of a pride Sho was still unaccustomed to.

“May her light shine upon you both,” Sho’s father said.

Lord Hideo bowed his head, sounding rather astonished and relieved himself. “You honor my family. As you will be sworn to protect my son, so shall Clan Matsumoto swear to protect you, Sakurai Sho. For all the rest of your days.”

Sho didn’t much care if the people present could detect a lack of sincerity in his words. “The honor is mine.”

The procession started at the house only an hour later. Sakurai Naoki had already been prepared. The walk to Ama-no-Iwato would take at least thirty minutes, and Sho walked at Jun’s side, right hand over his heart and staff in his left. It was the quietest Bonding procession that Sho had ever witnessed as they departed the populated part of the island for the cave at its very center. He heard no shouted prayers, no cheers. Nothing. Perhaps the island itself knew that Sho was being sold into service to someone unworthy. 

The forest grew thicker, the trees taller. How could Jun think so little of the Lady when her power surrounded them, growing stronger with each step forward?

The Clan Matsumoto drumming eventually started when they reached the clearing, and Sho could see Jun tense up as soon as they arrived at the entrance. It was the most holy spot in the Stormlands, a place of power for centuries. The Tree of Light soared into the skies, tall and strong. Beside it was the entrance to the cave, the open maw of it marked with several thick strings adorned with protective paper charms and prayers. The Elders had come, blocking the way inside, six men and women who oversaw all ceremonies on the island. Nine years ago they had been waiting here for him, to embrace him before he entered to pledge himself to Amaterasu.

None of them stepped toward the adult Sakurai Sho today, nor did they approach the shaking Matsumoto Jun beside him. Perhaps they’d gathered to see if the cave might spit Lord Hideo’s boy right back out of it.

The oldest of the Elders, Yoshinaga-san, was the only one to speak. “What is your purpose here today?”

“My purpose is to be Bonded to the person at my side,” Sho said, raising his voice and speaking clearly, much as it pained him. He would never dare to sound indifferent so close to the Lady of Heaven’s seat of power.

All six Elders lowered their heads, pressing their hands to their hearts. Everyone from Isejima in attendance did the same. Out of the corner of his eye, Sho could see Lord Hideo perform the same motion, even though he clearly didn’t have a brand to touch. He was just trying to be respectful, and Sho found it kind of cute. His son, of course, made no move to do the same.

“May the goddess’ light shine upon you both,” Elder Yoshinaga said, and the Elders moved away from the cave’s entrance.

Reluctantly, Sho held out his right hand, the left squeezing his Light Staff so hard he thought it might break. With everyone’s eyes upon him, Matsumoto Jun couldn’t find the courage to embarrass his father once again. Sho could feel his brand start to blaze hot as soon as Jun took hold of his offered hand.

They walked into the cave, the pathway starting to descend sharply within only a few feet. As soon as Sho knew that no one outside could see them this far in, he snatched his hand back.

Jun chuckled quietly. “You’ve got quite the martyr complex, Sakurai Sho.”

He said nothing in reply for now, taking deep breaths as they continued their path underground. It would only take them a few minutes to reach the back of the cave, torches placed in holders along the wall to guide them all the way. The burning sensation in his chest did not lessen. He decided against mentioning his body’s physical reaction to Matsumoto Jun. What was the point? He didn’t want to be here. And he wouldn’t care.

The cave was quiet and calm save for the scuffs of their sandals on the hard stone ground. Sho had been so much happier the last time he had descended into Ama-no-Iwato. He’d been a different person, an eager child ready to take that first step toward the destiny Amaterasu intended for him. His mother had even had to warn him the night before to walk calmly into the sacred cave, no matter how excited he was to receive her marking upon his skin.

The path banked to the side, and Sho took a moment to admire the thick roots of the Tree of Light that had melded with the cave wall. They were directly underneath the tree now, all that power. They would reach the end soon.

“We’re almost there.”

“We just have to stare at a stupid mirror?” Jun asked.

Sho did his best not to snap back in reply. “We perform the ritual while looking into the Yata no Kagami. And then we wait.”

“What ritual? I thought looking in the mirror was the ritual.”

Sho stopped walking, suddenly realizing that Jun had no idea what the Bonding entailed. “You’ve been here four times and you never asked?”

“It’s all just a bunch of superstitious bullshit, I’m sure.”

Sho couldn’t help grinning, pulling the folded up blade from his pocket. His mother had put it in his hand before the procession, closing his fingers around it, kissing him on both cheeks. The knife with the mother of pearl handle had been passed down for generations in her family. Who knew how many rituals had been performed with it? He unfolded it, the blade gleaming in the torchlight.

Jun looked irritated. “Stop messing around. What are you doing?”

Sho kind of liked to see the fear mounting in the other man’s eyes. He took a step closer, knife out. Jun’s fear grew stronger still. 

“What am I doing? My lord, you do know that we will be Bonded by blood, right?”

And now it was time for Jun to take a step back, back toward the tree’s roots, back toward the entrance of the cave. “What do you mean Bonded by blood?”

“What does it sound like, my lord?” Sho asked, lowering his voice. He drew the blade across his Light Staff, the sound of it sharp in the quiet cave. “You bleed for me so that I bleed for you.”

“Don’t you come another step closer,” Jun warned him, holding his hands up defensively.

“Or what? You’ll run away? Swim back to your ship?”

Jun was trying not to let his hands tremble. “You’re not going to cut me.”

“Yes. I _am_ going to cut you.” Sho turned the blade around, letting the handle face Jun this time. “And then you’re going to cut me. Since you didn’t bother to read up on something so basic, my lord, I’ll simply tell you. I taste your blood, you taste mine. Amaterasu sees it as a sign of our commitment, so she’ll bless our Bonding.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“That’s tradition. And has been for hundreds of years.”

Jun looked more irritated than scared now, likely because he knew he wouldn’t be the only one to bleed that day. He opted to negotiate. “Look Sho-san, this whole thing is a farce. You just have to get on the ship and come to Kaido. I’ll never ask anything of you, honestly. You’ll have fine clothes, good meals. You’ll never be mistreated…let’s just say we did all the dirty blood tasting and walk back out, alright? We don’t have to go through all this nonsense.”

“You don’t understand,” Sho replied, trying not to laugh at Jun’s utter ignorance. “I’m going to cut your palm. And you’re going to cut mine. There’s no faking it, I’m afraid. It’s the first thing they’ll check when we walk back out of here.”

Jun narrowed his eyes. “This is fucking ridiculous.”

And so he turned and walked away. Sho let him get a few steps before he opened his mouth again.

“Have you ever lived outside of your father’s protection, Matsumoto Jun?” he called out, deliberately goading him. “Have you ever been able to take a shit without one of those honor guards there to catch it for you?”

Jun stopped walking but did not turn around.

“You think you’ll last a day on your own outside of your clan’s territory? You told me that you don’t care if your father disowns you. Have you ever labored a day in your life? Have you ever lifted anything heavier than your parasol? Just what the hell are you planning to do if you walk away from this, huh?”

Jun’s shoulders slumped. “Why do you even care?”

“I don’t,” Sho spat back, even as his chest throbbed, the pain increasing with each step Jun took away from him. “I really don’t. But you asked me what it was like to run away. So let me tell you. It was the most amazing feeling. Doing what you want, eating what you want, meeting new people, seeing new places. But was I free? No,” he admitted. 

“No, my mother was sending me money so I wouldn’t starve. So I would always be able to have a roof over my head at night. I worked and worked every day in order to continue my journey and see new places, but I could always rely on what they’d sent. Because of our families we’re more fortunate than most people, my lord, but because of our families neither of us will ever truly be free. There must be some sacrifice. In serving you and only you, I honor my ancestors and the Lady’s sacred trust in all who live on this island. And I suppose your sacrifice is to continue living in your father’s house, wearing your fine clothes and letting yourself be pampered for the rest of your days.”

The young lord’s irritated voice interrupted him. “You know everything there is to know about me then?”

“No more than you seem to have assumed about me, my lord.” Sho shifted his weight to his other foot, sighing. “Look. Whatever your beliefs, that this Bonding is the Lady’s will or that our meeting is a mere twist of fate or that you’re just an unlucky little rich boy saddled for eternity with an annoying religious zealot of a servant from a backwater island…”

He thought he heard Jun let out a bitter snort at that.

“…whatever you think and whatever I think about this situation does not matter. It has been decided by other people. By our parents. By the Lady of Heaven. And so you will endure this ritual. We will board your ship. We will go together to your home. And then you can ignore me until whichever of us dies first.”

Finally Jun turned. There was the hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth. “That’s the most depressing thing I’ve ever heard.”

Sho exhaled. “I know.”

The pain in Sho’s chest eased the slightest bit as Jun approached him again. There wasn’t acceptance in his eyes, not quite, but he too seemed to realize that his tantrum would not get him anywhere.

“Does it have to be a deep cut?”

Sho felt a strange sort of relief. “No. Not really.”

“You really have to taste it? My blood?”

“I’m not looking forward to it any more than you are.”

Jun sighed, giving Sho a shove. “Alright. Let’s do this stupid thing.”

—

They took the final steps to the center of the cave. Amidst torches and smoke, among light and shadow, the Yata no Kagami was waiting for them atop the limestone pedestal at the center of the cave. For centuries it had rested there, no larger than a grown man’s palm, hazy glass set in a solid gold frame. The frame was probably a hundred years old, and it was replaced every few centuries to protect the Lady’s sacred mirror.

Sho held in a breath as Jun approached and lifted it, unimpressed. His chest burned more than it had all this time, and Sho bit his lip to conceal the pain.

Jun looked into the glass. “This is it?”

“My lord…”

Jun turned, cracking a smile. He pretended like he was about to drop it, but he stopped suddenly. He set it down gingerly, back on the pedestal, looking at Sho with fear in his eyes. “What’s wrong with you?”

Sho cocked his head. “Huh?”

Jun’s hand reached forward, yanking at Sho’s silk kimono. “When I picked it up, you…” Sho was stunned momentarily as Jun’s fingers tugged, pulling at the fabric, pulling the thin layers aside. “…what is that?”

Matsumoto Jun’s boldness had just revealed the brand over Sho’s heart.

“It appears after we pledge ourselves to serve her,” Sho explained quietly, wishing to tug his clothes back into place, but Jun’s fingers were warm against his bare skin, soft. “When we turn thirteen.”

“What do you mean it appears? It’s not a tattoo?”

He looked up, meeting Jun’s frightened expression. “It’s not all superstitious bullshit.”

Jun pulled his hand back, shakily lifting the Yata no Kagami again. And this time Sho realized what had frightened Jun so much. The burn wasn’t just something Sho felt inside. With Jun’s hand on the Lady’s sacred mirror, the red sun on his skin started to glow, brighter than the torchlight in the cave. And when Jun set it back on the pedestal, the glow faded. 

This…this was new. 

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Jun mumbled.

Sho’s mouth felt suddenly dry. He’d spent nearly a decade of his life putting his hand to his heart, to the brand that had been gifted to him by the goddess when he was young. The same brand that everyone on Isejima bore, the same brand they touched when they called upon their light magic anywhere in the Stormlands in order to vanquish the Lady’s foes.

But he’d never heard of one glowing as his had just done. He’d never seen it. When he’d watched the Shadows being fought in Hakata, surely he’d have seen such intense light glowing through their clothes. There’d been none. His parents had never spoken of such a thing being a possibility. The Lady’s will manifested only through their light magic.

Jun was absolutely right. What the hell was wrong with him?

“Let’s…let’s just get this over with. I can ask Father later,” he muttered, trying not to shake in his own confusion. He rearranged his clothes hastily, hiding his bare skin from Jun once more. 

He pulled the knife out again, revealing the blade. There was a solid backing to the pedestal, and Sho lifted the mirror, leaning it so that both he and Jun were visible in the glass. Leaning it as he had done as a child without fear, eager for Amaterasu’s blessing to be bestowed on him.

“I will cut you and taste your blood. I will say that I wish to be Bonded to you. Then you take the knife and do the same. When you say the words, you look in the mirror,” Sho explained quietly, trying to focus on the task at hand. Even though he was frightened. Even though he was confused.

“And then what?” Jun asked.

“And then we will be blessed.” He turned, looking at Jun seriously. “Her light will shine upon us, and when I was a child it was strong enough to knock me out for two days. I imagine it will be less since we’re older. Besides, you will not have any lasting damage.”

Jun narrowed his eyes. “When you were a child, you ended up with that…sun on you.”

“She only marks the people of Isejima. You’ll be fine.” He tried to lighten his tone. “Besides, since you don’t believe in any of this, certainly there must be a…logical or scientific explanation for what we’re about to endure. I’ll leave it to you to come up with a satisfactory answer so you can sleep at night…”

“Sho-san…”

Sho couldn’t wait any longer. The pain in his chest had been building since they’d come close to the sacred mirror, since Jun had touched it. He grabbed Jun’s hand, hearing a soft gasp of surprise as he lightly drew the blade of the knife across the center of his palm until a bloom of blood appeared. It wasn’t deep, and Sho did as his parents had instructed, even though it disgusted him, even though it scared him.

He felt Jun try and tug his arm away, but Sho was stronger. He brought the palm of Jun’s hand to his lips and kissed the slash in his skin, the taste bitter. But at the first taste of Jun’s blood, Sho’s chest throbbed. Pain suddenly flooded through him, away from just his heart, his veins seeming ablaze as a strange mixture of agony and desire took hold of him from head to toe. Mine to protect, mine to possess. The words echoed in his mind, taking control of him utterly. 

Mine to protect, mine to possess. Sho moaned at the painful pleasure of it, never knowing such a feeling in his life. He had never felt such pure want, such desperate need for someone. Even on a night of casual passion he’d never felt like this, not even as his mind had given itself over to base instincts, to the primal joy of release.

He could feel Jun’s hand start to quiver in his strong grip, and the reaction only urged him on. Sho inhaled sharply, sucking at this unfamiliar skin, letting more of Jun’s blood coat his tongue. Mine to protect, mine to possess. Mine…mine…

“Stop…please stop…” he heard Jun beg him, and it was his voice, Jun’s frightened voice, that seemed to snap Sho out of his terrifying reverie.

Sho dropped Jun’s hand immediately, stumbling back several steps. His whole body shook, and he blinked, trying to come back to himself. He was hard, uncomfortably so, hoping that his layers of clothing mostly hid it from Jun.

This…this wasn’t right. This wasn’t the way of a Bonding…

He took a breath, trying to calm himself. “My lord…my lord, I’m…I’m sorry…”

Jun was shaking, hand tightly gripping his wrist, hand hanging limply and blood slowly running down his palm. “What kind of twisted fucking ritual is this?”

“I…I don’t…” He shook his head. “I honestly don’t know…”

“Are you messing with me? Because I said all those things about Amaterasu…is this some kind of revenge? A practical joke? Because it’s not funny…”

Sho wiped the blade on his kimono before setting it down atop the pedestal with shaking fingers. His body was starting to come down from that high, but he could still taste Jun’s blood on his lips. What was wrong with him? Would his parents have an answer? Or would telling them only make things worse?

He brushed at his lips with his thumb, hoping to have wiped it all away. His skin felt hot, almost clammy with sweat. And yet he’d never felt so…alive. Or scared.

He stood at Jun’s side, and it seemed Jun was too frightened to move away from him. Sho looked into the Yata no Kagami and spoke the words, if only because he felt an urgent need to complete the ritual and get the hell out of this cave. 

“Lady of Heaven, protector of us all,” Sho said quietly. “It is my wish that I be Bonded permanently to Matsumoto Jun, whose blood has mingled with mine. Wherever your light reaches, keep us in your favor.”

The mirror showed no reaction.

“You have to cut me now,” Sho mumbled. 

“I’m not…I’m not going to do that…”

“Jun.”

Jun was too frightened to take offense at the casual address, and Sho watched as he nervously took the small knife into his hand. “You looked possessed…I thought…I thought if I tried to run that you’d kill me. Is…is that going to happen to me?”

It certainly wasn’t supposed to happen. This was only the ritual, this was only the deed Amaterasu required before she bestowed her blessing on their Bonding. None of this made any sense.

Sho was overcome by a far different feeling of pain. This time it was recognizable as guilt. What he’d just experienced had been indescribable, but somehow pleasurable, a sudden overwhelming need to protect the man beside him with all of himself. More than that, Sho had felt the need to lay claim to him. But whatever Jun had seen in Sho in that moment had terrified him. Something wasn’t right. Something about this wasn’t normal, but Sho didn’t know what to do but continue. 

This was what the Lady wanted for them both, and he didn’t want to know what would happen if he chose not to obey her. 

He closed his eyes in shame. He didn’t have any answers or comfort to provide. “I don’t know.” 

“Can I have your hand?” Jun asked, sounding far different than he had at their first meeting, different than he had only yesterday at the Sun Cliffs.

Sho held his hand out palm up. Jun’s touch was light, almost ticklish. Sho watched as Jun traced his long, pale fingers along the center of Sho’s palm. “Maybe there’s…there’s some fissure beneath this cave,” he was muttering to himself. “Something poisonous from within the earth polluting the air. Enough to drive a man temporarily mad…”

It sounded as though Jun was trying to rationalize the last few minutes of their lives, to find some sort of scientific basis for what had happened. But Sho knew deep down that this was Amaterasu’s doing. There was something different she wished from this Bonding. Or she knew something that was not for them to know. Not yet, perhaps not ever.

“I’m sorry,” he heard Jun mutter, and before Sho realized it, the cut appeared on the palm of his hand.

He didn’t register any pain, watching as Jun swallowed, setting the knife down on the pedestal and raising Sho’s hand closer to his face. There were tears in Jun’s eyes, true fear…the fear of a non-believer confronted with Amaterasu’s power.

Perhaps Matsumoto Jun didn’t totally buy in to his own blasphemy.

Sho bit back a moan of sheer want as he watched Jun lower his head, dark hair tickling his palm, his wrist. He didn’t know why his body was reacting this way, why his mind was reacting this way to a person he’d known for only two days. He felt a soft kiss and what might have been a quick swipe of Jun’s tongue against the cut on his palm before his hand was released and Jun turned quickly away.

He’d seemingly experienced none of the pain, none of the confusing desire. Jun’s part in the ritual had proceeded normally, and for that at least, Sho was grateful.

Sho’s palm throbbed lightly, and he pulled his sleeve over his hand, letting the fresh blood soak into the fabric instead of letting it drip onto the cave floor. “Say the words that I said. Exactly in the manner I did. Whatever you believe, please at least do this.”

Sho didn’t have to repeat them. Jun remembered them. They’d probably been seared into his memory, something terrifying that would stay with him always. Though there was nothing he could do, Sho was truly sorry.

They both looked into the mirror, Jun looking straight ahead and Sho looking only at Jun’s reflection.

“Lady of Heaven, protector of us all,” Jun said. “It is my wish that I be Bonded permanently to Sakurai Sho, whose blood has mingled with mine. Wherever your light reaches, keep us in your favor.”

As Jun finished speaking, there was a flash.

And then there was only darkness.

—

He woke to find that they were still in the cave. And despite the oddness of the ritual, they were both alive and mostly well. He felt groggy, sitting up slowly. A few feet away Jun lay in a peaceful heap, clothing covered in dirt from the floor.

Sho examined his palms, finding that the cut Jun had made had already healed, leaving only a thin scab in its place as proof they had done as the ritual required. He pulled his kimono aside, finding the same sun, unchanged. No strange glowing now. There was usually no physical change with a Bonding, only the blessing bestowed that had been strong enough to knock them both out and heal their wounds.

He moved over, crouching down beside Jun. The odd desire he’d felt for him had thankfully faded away. He still had no explanation for how he’d reacted. No explanation for why he’d wanted Jun, a stranger, with every bit of himself. Now he felt only guilt for the fright he had caused, a much duller pain in his chest.

He gave Jun a light shake. “My lord.”

Jun didn’t stir, but since the light burning sensation in his chest did not fluctuate, Sho had a sense that Jun was not in any danger. Sometimes it took a bit longer for people to come out of the daze that followed the Lady’s intervention.

He left Jun behind, carrying his Light Staff back to the cave entrance. It was long past dark. His parents, Lord Hideo, and all the others had probably left hours ago. There were merely two guards posted at the entrance to ensure nobody would enter and disturb the ritual.

“Sho-san,” the guard said. “Has the ritual completed?”

“Yes, it has. What time is it?” he asked, leaning his staff against the cave wall.

“Only a few hours until dawn,” the other replied to him. “Are you alright? What about the young lord?”

“He’ll be fine. I’m going back to get him. If one of you could bring my staff back to my house, please tell my family and Lord Matsumoto that we will return in time for breakfast.”

Sho was surprised by how calm he could sound, how normal. The guards didn’t question him, nor did they question the fact that more than half a day had gone by since they’d entered the cave. Everything could be easily explained away on Isejima: it was the will of the Lady of Heaven. As requested, one of them took his staff and headed back toward the trees. 

“May her light shine upon you,” the remaining guard said, completely oblivious to the fear and uncertainty warring in Sho’s gut.

“And may it shine upon you as well,” Sho replied before turning to descend into Ama-no-Iwato once more.

Jun had not moved, but he was breathing. Sho found no blood on the knife his mother had given him, and he shoved it back in his pocket. The Lady’s mirror was still leaning against the pedestal, and Sho settled it back as it had been when they’d arrived.

He looked down, crossing his arms with a sigh. Sprawled there on the ground, Jun seemed younger than his twenty years. Despite all the trouble Matsumoto Jun’s arrival had brought into his life, he couldn’t help the protective feelings that flooded his heart. Sho was responsible for him now. He always would be. 

Sho doubted that Jun would want to wake up here, that he’d prefer to be far away from Ama-no-Iwato after everything that had happened. “You’re damn heavy for such a skinny kid,” Sho complained as he hoisted Jun’s dead weight onto his back, heading for the cave exit.

He didn’t want to go home. He didn’t want to ask his parents if he was broken, if he was so unworthy of the Bonding that Amaterasu had toyed with him, toyed with Jun. He didn’t want to ask about his glowing sun. He didn’t want to ask about the sudden sexual attraction that had sapped the reason from him so easily as he tasted Jun’s blood.

They would be in Kaido soon. Sho would be nothing more than another servant in the household. Jun would likely ignore him. Perhaps that was for the best.

Sho had helped to build a few homes on the island of Tottori for several weeks during his travels in exchange for a place to stay, his feet sinking in the island’s sandy soil for hours upon hours each day as he lugged materials to and fro. It felt that way again as he trudged out of the cave and into the forest. Instead of bricks in a sack thumping painfully against his back, he had Matsumoto Jun to carry.

It was dark, but the path had long been so familiar, something he could likely negotiate in his sleep. The more he walked, pine needle scent soothing him, the lighter his burden seemed. He awkwardly stepped out of his sandals upon reaching the Western Beach, the place that had meant so much to him for so many years.

He carried Jun close to the shore, settling him down in the sand so he wouldn’t get wet. Sho lay back on the beach beside him, staring up into the unfathomable heavens above. The sky would eventually lighten, the purple sliding to pinks and oranges, the sun returning to warm them again. For now Sho contented himself with the sounds of the true sea crashing to shore, with the sight of the sea of stars above.

He didn’t know how long he was there, his mind trying to wrap itself around the strange events of the day, before he sensed a slight stirring beside him. “It’s pretty here,” he heard Jun say in a sleepy voice.

“Back at the house you always had to try and peek through the trees,” Sho replied quietly. “But here you can see everything. Sometimes it feels like the stars go on forever. This is my favorite place.”

Jun waited a few minutes before speaking again, though he sounded a little more coherent now. He was emerging from the Lady’s blessing, that strange daze. “We have this one balcony at the castle. The view from there is amazing, too. Especially in the summer when it’s not so cold.”

“Sounds nice.”

“Maybe my father will let me travel someday, now that I’ve come of age and he’s getting Rin-chan ready to succeed him. I’m not going to be needed much anymore, especially if Rin-chan gets married and has a family.” Jun paused. “That’s my sister. Rinko. You’ll meet her at some point, but she moves around a lot. My father’s eyes and ears around the islands. Anyway, maybe if I get to travel we can come back here. Then you won’t feel trapped on Kaido. You can see your family. And you could come back to this beach.”

Sho was surprised by the sincerity he could hear in Jun’s tone. “You don’t have to do anything like that for me.” 

“Just because I feel the way I feel about how this world works doesn’t mean I don’t recognize what you’ve given up.” There was little of Jun’s initial hostility or arrogance left now. “Even if I’m never going to understand it, the last thing I want is for you to be miserable.”

It wasn’t worth arguing or protesting. For all that Jun’s blasphemous behaviors frustrated him, getting along with him would make his new life far easier. There were probably better people to be Bonded to permanently, but Sho knew that some possibilities would be worse. He would honor the Lady’s will by being agreeable.

“Thank you,” he replied.

“How did we get here?” Jun eventually asked, and Sho felt embarrassed.

“I carried you from the cave. I’m sorry that we’ll have a long walk back to my house, but I thought you’d prefer to wake up somewhere more pleasant.”

Jun said nothing.

They lay there together, side by side, stargazing quietly until the distant points of light faded from view and the dawn at last returned.

—

It was the first time he was sailing directly from Isejima to the far north. Sho’s few years of travel had resulted mostly in island hops, moving from one to another, taking in the sights and wandering unfamiliar paths. He’d known the Kaido that was designed to take in tourist coin - the hawkers at the port selling souvenirs and fresh shellfish, the guides who’d rent their services for the day to lead visitors on hikes to glaciers or mountain trails.

He’d only been there a few days, one stop just to say he’d made it that far north once in his life. If only he could have known that that trip would not be his last. 

The Lucky 7 was a sturdy ship, luxuriously outfitted to suit a noble family’s tastes. Sho had been given a cabin to himself on the passenger deck. After nearly two weeks at sea, he’d grown accustomed to the bobbing of the waves in more challenging areas, accustomed to the thick blankets and sturdy mattress in the bunk he’d been provided. The Lucky 7 was one of the newer vessels out there, steam-powered and stable even as the sea grew choppier around them the further north they traveled. He was invited to dine with Lord Hideo and his son for each meal, and he obliged. Without all the pomp that had been the Matsumoto family’s visit to Isejima, Sho was now witness to all sorts of conversations whether he wished to be or not.

Jun’s father liked to nitpick him for all sorts of silly reasons, something that Sho could sympathize with all too well. But since Lord Hideo would be ensuring Sho’s comfort and livelihood as Light Guardian to his son, he didn’t dare intervene in arguments or openly express any opinions that might coincide with Jun’s.

Instead he usually ate in silence, listening to Lord Hideo compare his second-born to his first repeatedly. Matsumoto Rinko could do no wrong in her father’s eyes. She was apparently popular with the people of Kaido and the northern islands, thoughtful, intelligent. Jun, on the other hand, could do nothing right. His posture at the dining table, the way he held his chopsticks, the way he dressed and the way he styled his hair. ‘Ungrateful boy,’ was a frequent muttering. With so many trips back and forth to Isejima in the last year, it seemed Lord Hideo had lost what affection he may have had for his second child.

Lord Hideo did nothing but find fault. Jun, in reply, only worked harder to be a disappointment. Slouching. Complaining about food being oily, about the servants not having brought aboard the drinks he preferred. Shivering in thick robes and clicking his tongue, whining about the temperature aboard the ship being too cold.

When they weren’t eating, Jun locked himself up in his cabin. Presumably, Sho thought, to avoid his father’s wrath or worse, his praises for Rinko. Sho, largely ignored as they continued sailing north, occupied himself with books that Lord Hideo let him borrow. He made small talk with some of the guards, about the weather or about their lives on Kaido. He took walks around the deck, feeling relieved any time he could escape from the room where they dined together.

Sho had a feeling that Jun wasn’t just hiding from his father. He was probably hiding from Sho too. He made his appearances at meals, but ever since they’d emerged from Ama-no-Iwato, ever since that time on the beach, Jun hadn’t made too many overtures at friendship, let alone a private conversation. 

Maybe Jun was afraid of him, after the things that had happened in the cave. Once they’d gone back to the house, Sho hadn’t found the courage to ask his parents about what they’d experienced in Ama-no-Iwato. He still wasn’t sure he wanted the answer. Instead he’d only packed his things, bidding them farewell once more. This time at least he’d been able to give his family a proper goodbye. This time he wasn’t running away, but there had been little joy in his departure.

The days seemed to flow together. Meals, reading, sleep. Meals, wandering the deck, sleep. They were two days out from Kaido when Sho finally took his Light Staff back into his hands. For some reason it felt lighter, almost like an extension of his own arm. He walked upstairs to the top deck, wandering to the bow of the ship as it steadily steamed its way north.

They hadn’t seen land for a few days, having made a stop for fuel and supplies three days earlier on another island. They were surrounded by deep, choppy blue in all directions. The air was growing colder every hour, and Sho wrapped his cloak around himself tighter. He hadn’t had much clothes at the house on Isejima that would keep him warm enough, but he’d be provided with thicker garments upon reaching the castle. For now, he just shivered, deciding it was time to call upon the Lady and see if she would answer.

His only target was the distant horizon. A thirteen or fourteen year old Sakurai Sho would have probably had cause to worry, that perhaps his light magic would sputter and singe the Lucky 7’s deck. But after his days in the yard, the pointless practice he’d done in anticipation of Jun’s arrival, he felt that the ship would not be damaged by his test.

He’d informed the guards and Lord Hideo of his intentions earlier. Jun’s father had looked at him with an almost patronizing smile. “May her light strengthen you,” Lord Hideo had said, granting permission. 

In leaving Isejima behind, Sho was re-entering a world that the Dark Lord could touch at any moment. It was unlikely for a portal to open at sea lest the Dark Lord antagonize his neutral brother, but soon they would be ashore, and Kaido had been vulnerable of late. Lord Hideo likely had a few dozen light magic users in his employ on Kaido, with more to come. Sho in his new role as Jun’s Light Guardian was unlikely to be called to the front lines. And he was aware that Lord Hideo and his son already knew his limitations.

But Sho hoped that with practice and with diligence he would at least be able to protect the one person in his charge. He was in the employ of a family on the Council of Five now, and he had no wish to embarrass them, even if their expectations of him were already quite low.

He stood there at the front rail that curved around the bow of the ship, white foam below easily slashed aside as the ship steamed ahead at full speed. He shivered a little as he uncrossed his arms, placing his right hand against his heart and holding out his left arm, hand gripping his staff.

“In serving him, I serve you,” he whispered, hoping that Amaterasu might hear him, keep him from making a total fool of himself.

He and others like him had only to concentrate, to think the light into forming and the staff would direct it. A beam could be thin and precise to sever a Shadow’s grip on a human. Or it could be a broader pulse, intended to seal a portal shut. In Sho’s experience, his attempts at larger flashes of light would sputter and die like a candle being blown out. Aiming a beam at a target required more focus, and he had always struggled with distance. 

With only water around him, he offered a prayer to the Lord of the Seas as well. “Lord Susanoo, forgive my trespass on your territory. I wish only to strengthen the gifts your sister has provided.”

Sho exhaled, trying not to shiver, thinking of the warmth of the sun as it had been on the Western Beach only a few weeks earlier. He tightened his grip on the Light Staff and aimed at the horizon, his thoughts becoming light.

Please work, he thought. Please, for once, grant me strength.

He felt a bubbing warmth in his chest, gasping as an impossibly strong beam appeared in the blink of an eye, a bolt of light that departed from him and rocketed over the tops of the waves, vanishing into the distance.

Sho stumbled back, the staff growing as warm as his body had. Never in his life had he been able to do something like that. Had the Lady truly heard him? Now that she’d given him such an unpleasant task, had she finally decided to bestow him with the power that ought to have been his for all these years?

“Lord Susanoo, if I might beg your indulgence once more,” he muttered, placing his nervous, shaking fingers back over his heart and extending his left arm.

The shot of light nearly tugged him forward right with it, Sho hitting the rail hard and hearing the heavy clang of his staff against it. Without the rail, he’d have tumbled right overboard.

It was then that he heard clapping.

He turned, wind ruffling his hair, to find Matsumoto Jun leaning against the rail to his left. Bundled up and cheeks pink, he was watching Sho with an amused smile.

“Perhaps our research about you was wrong,” Jun said, the first time he’d willingly addressed Sho in days.

Sho lowered his staff, body still quivering with the power he’d been able to summon for the very first time. “Good day to you, my lord.”

“That was rather impressive,” Jun admitted. “I suppose I feel a bit safer now.”

“Pleased that I may not be completely useless?”

Jun grinned. “I often have barbecues with my friends from court in summer. Perhaps I could bring you along instead of a proper grill.”

Sho tried not to scowl. Try as he did to hide it, Sho could see in Jun’s eyes that he was a bit surprised by what Sho had been capable of doing. But not as surprised as Sho still was.

“You simply think the light into existence?” Jun inquired.

Sho nodded. “That has always been the way of it, for myself and for others from Isejima.”

“Interesting.” Though he’d been complaining about the cold for days, Jun moved forward in the chilly air wafting across the deck, holding out his hand. “Let me see that.”

An order, not a request. 

Sho held the Light Staff out, let Jun take it in his hands. He watched Jun run his fingers along the smooth wood, scrutinizing the tiny little notches and knobs. Though the staffs were sanded and smoothed upon being cut from the Tree of Light on Isejima, the shape still mostly resembled the branches they’d once been, no matter how crooked or oddly-shaped.

“And it doesn’t catch fire?” Jun asked. “The wood?”

“No.”

“Strange.”

“Not so strange if you believe in the Lady,” Sho said, simply to get a reaction.

He didn’t get the one he expected. Instead of an eye roll or a derisive laugh, Jun merely frowned and held the staff out for Sho to take back.

“Does your sister have a Light Guardian?” Sho asked, eventually breaking the awkward silence between them.

“Do you know the Yonekura family of your island? A woman named Ryoko serves her.”

Sho was confused. He couldn’t recall another incident of Clan Matsumoto coming to Isejima in recent years, although perhaps he’d not paid much attention as an angry teenager. “How old is your sister again?”

“Twenty-four, but Ryoko-san is a few years older than her. She was my mother’s Light Guardian first. Their Bonding had been a gift from my father.” For a moment, Jun looked almost disgusted. “She now serves Rin-chan instead.”

“Oh.” 

Sho had never heard of a Bonding being transferred from mother to daughter. Then again, Sho didn’t know every family on the island or where they had been scattered in service over the years. Either way, Sho had once again touched a nerve, making Jun think of his departed mother, and he didn’t want to cause any further offense.

“Are you cold, my lord? I don’t want you to get sick out here.”

“I’d like to see a few more…demonstrations. Then I’ll go back inside, Sho-san.”

He decided that was something he could do, if only because he himself was curious about the sudden increase in his power after so many years of mediocrity.

Sho stood at the bow of the ship, planting his feet firmly this time. His chest didn’t burn but seemed to grow warmer nonetheless as he felt Jun’s gaze upon him. Sho put his hand to his heart and continued practicing.

—

Matsumoto Town was not what Sho had anticipated. He’d only been to the coast before, had not come the twenty or so kilometers inland to Kaido’s seat of power. The city was largely built into a series of rounded hills, thick buildings of stone with little decoration. Construction this far north was more practical than ornamental, squat structures built to withstand the bitter cold.

Unlike Sho’s home on Isejima, the one-level house built among the trees from sturdy wood, Matsumoto Castle seemed to almost be jutting out of the rock itself. It lay in the middle of town on slightly higher ground. It had high walls that had been built deep into the hills as a way to conserve warmth, making it almost akin to an animal’s burrow. 

The town was split up the middle by the Kaidogawa, a snaking river that led to Kaido Harbor on the coast. The Lucky 7 and other large ships were moored there, with smaller boats traveling up the river to the capital and the castle itself. The Kaidogawa froze over in winter, Lord Hideo had explained as they were rowed upriver to the castle in a covered boat. For nearly half the year, the only way to get around was by large sleighs pulled by horses bred specifically for the purpose. The animals had thicker hair and manes, could manage the cold. Despite the cold, it would be a few more months before the Kaidogawa would completely freeze this year.

The weather didn’t deter the spirits of the island’s people, and Sho peeked out from the boat to see several bundled up citizens crossing over the bridges that spanned the Kaidogawa. Even though the Dark Lord’s portals were popping up on the island with alarming frequency of late, the hardy northerners refused to hide in their homes. While Lord Hideo proudly chattered away about his people, Sho watched from the corner of his eye as Jun stared out one of the portholes. Unlike his father, he didn’t look so happy to be back home.

The boat left the main waterway behind, as a canal had been carved out to bring water directly to the clan’s castle. A large gate at the castle entrance was opened, revealing a large cave-like entryway for the Clan’s boats to be moored under the castle. Sho wondered if the water within froze in the winter as the Kaidogawa did. The gate closed behind them, the canal continuing inside. Sho followed Lord Hideo, Jun, and the guards onto the boat deck as it was rowed toward one of the open docks in the manmade grotto.

Sho was startled a little when the drumming sounded. He noticed that men and their large drums had been lined up on the docks alongside dozens of servants to welcome their lord home. Within the underground chamber the sound of the drums echoed even louder than it had back in the Sakurai home on Isejima. Lord Hideo made no move to wave or acknowledge anyone, merely resting his hands atop the twin swords strapped to his waist. The lord had returned, and he would be respected.

Word about Sho’s arrival had been sent ahead, he found out once the boat had been securely tied up at the dock. Lord Hideo beckoned for a stern-faced woman to come forward.

“My majordomo Madame Kaga will show you to your accommodations,” Lord Hideo said. “She will see to your comfort as my son’s Light Guardian.”

Madame Kaga did not react to the lord’s pronouncement, looking at Sho as though he was just another problem to be dealt with. She merely inclined her head politely. 

Before Sho could follow her, he felt a sudden pang in his chest. Jun rudely stepped in front of his father, hopping off the boat and walking away without so much as a word to him. A fraction of the servants and guards followed Jun away, rushing to match his pace as he fled the docks.

Lord Hideo exhaled, clearly annoyed but unwilling to let the servants bear witness to his displeasure. Sho bowed his head to the lord of Clan Matsumoto, following Madame Kaga and a few other servants along the docks to a set of stone steps that seemed to lead up and into the castle proper.

It was much warmer inside, Sho realized, from the combination of the building’s construction, the thickly carpeted floors, and several braziers set strategically along the corridor. Compared to the open grotto underground, the regular floors of Matsumoto Castle had lower ceilings. Sho didn’t consider himself very tall, but if he got on his tiptoes, he might be able to reach the ceiling with his fingertips. He supposed it was another intended purpose of the building, a way to keep in as much warmth as possible when Kaido grew even colder than it was now.

There were no windows to the outside on this floor, little of the grandeur Sho had expected. The castle gave off the air of a bunker rather than a grand home. As he followed Madame Kaga and the swish of her thick robe through a maze of corridors, he felt a little claustrophobic. After the open seas and the soaring forest of Isejima, after his months of wandering, Sho realized that his life here would be considerably different.

He was led up another set of stone stairs. It seemed that this, at least, was a more livable dwelling space. The ceilings were still low, but there were more adornments. Decorative screens, tapestries, elegant vases on pedestals. In every work of art Sho saw the purples and violets of the clan’s colors. Here there were a few small windows, glass so thick it slightly distorted the outside.

Madame Kaga finally halted at the end of a hall. “You will stay in here, Sakurai-san.”

Unlike the sliding doors of Sho’s home and much of the Stormlands that he’d visited, a thick wooden door swung inward on its hinges. The plain, thick carpeting absorbed the sound of his shoes, which he had not been instructed to take off anywhere. It felt a little strange wearing them around, but he supposed it was another casualty of Kaido’s distance from a more suitable climate. 

The room was simply appointed, a considerable downgrade from Sho’s room at the house in Isejima, but still larger than any of the places he’d stayed in his travels. Like his cabin on the Lucky 7, his bed consisted of a thick mattress in a sturdy wooden frame. It was covered in lavender sheets and blankets. There was an armoire to store clothing, a small desk and chair for writing and study with a tiny window near it. In the corner sat an empty bookshelf with a map of the Stormlands tacked up above it. 

Madame Kaga directed him around a screen to the right of his bed that depicted a summer scene that didn’t seem to represent any reality in Kaido. Behind it was a chamber pot and a basin and pitcher for basic washing. She led him back out of the room, showing him to a larger bathing room down the corridor that was for servant use.

“Is there a servants’ hall for me to have meals?” Sho inquired when Madame Kaga brought him again to his room.

By now, Sho’s trunk of clothing and belongings from Isejima was being hauled into the room by two servants, who set it down with a thunk at the foot of the bed.

“Kikuchi, the left screen,” Madame Kaga said.

It was then that Sho noticed the other screen in the room, a winter scene depicting a frozen-over pond with geese flying overhead. The screen was to the left of his bed, arranged by the wall. Sho’s eyes widened as Kikuchi and the other servant moved the screen aside, revealing another thick wooden door.

“Where you take your meals is not for me to decide,” Madame Kaga said. “You will find the young lord in the adjoining chamber. He will make those decisions moving forward.”

“The young lord…” Sho panicked. “You mean…in the room next door…”

“Those are the young lord’s chambers, yes. He has not asked us to install any bell so that you may be summoned, at least not yet. Unless you are bathing, I’d advise you to wait here until you are requested.”

Without another word, Madame Kaga clapped her hands. The two servants departed, the majordomo following behind. The door was tugged closed after them.

Sho moved to sit on the bed, finding it fairly comfortable. But all he could do was look to the side, to the door that would connect them as long as Jun’s chambers and his were situated in the same part of the castle. Was Sho to be more of a personal servant than a Light Guardian here? Who knew?

He felt far from the Lady’s light, trapped in this room. Somehow, this was her plan for him. A punishment? A curse? He didn’t know what his future held, but whatever it was lay behind the door. And it wasn’t for him to know until it was opened.

—

Though their chambers were connected by a door, Sho did not see or hear Jun for four days. But thankfully, Sho hadn’t been forgotten. His chamber pot and room were cleaned frequently. Meals were brought directly to him, a tray set down at the writing desk. Pickled vegetables and rice, grilled meats, thick noodles in hearty broth. On the first night, a servant had brought him a tray with a few croquettes on them, and he’d bit into them with a moan of surprise at the decadent crab cream filling. “The young lord wished for you to have what he could not eat,” the servant had explained.

Everything was delicious, more than Sho thought a servant might receive. Even if some of it was apparently Jun’s warmed up leftovers. Then again, he supposed he wasn’t an average servant.

He’d filled the rest of his time as best he could, since his neighbor had not forbidden him to explore. The servants’ bath was usually empty, and he indulged himself in these times. The red sun on his chest had been mostly calm since arriving on Kaido, the burning in his chest subsiding. He was grateful to be free of it, at least for a while. When he wasn’t bathing, eating, or reading some of the books he’d packed from home, he wandered around Matsumoto Castle, doing his best to stay out of the way of people with actual jobs to perform.

He learned that Lord Hideo and Lady Rinko’s rooms were in a different wing, the decor there a bit fancier than the hall where Jun’s chambers were. Given the continual disagreements between father and son, Sho assumed that Jun had either been forced into lesser accommodations or had himself sought to put a good amount of distance between his rooms and his father’s.

Sho had had time to find the kitchens, the servants’ quarters, the clan’s war rooms and receiving chambers, guest accommodations, and a small archive of records presided over by a small older man who refused Sho entrance with a defiant frown. He longed to go outside, to visit Matsumoto Town or to at least find that balcony Jun had recommended as a place to stargaze. He longed to go out into the sunlight, to feel real light again, already growing irritated at the view from his room. Looking through that glass was like looking through a pond. Things were not quite right. But Madame Kaga and the other servants he encountered said they were not authorized to let him leave the castle grounds. Only Jun could give an order, and so far none had been given.

Thus Sho was beholden to the whims of a temperamental twenty year old nobleman who sent him croquettes one day and spoke not a word to him otherwise. At least until that fourth day. Having returned from his bath, he was in bed in a new pair of pajamas. He’d returned one morning to find the armoire stuffed with more clothes than he really needed.

He was reading a historical account of the southern Waraogasa chain of islands, which had been fought over a few times by Clan Hirano of Shukyu and Clan Nagase of Kyuryu, both families members of the current Council of Five. The other three families, including Clan Matsumoto, had served as peacemaker when conflicts arose. It was interesting, but he was drowsy from his bath. His eyes were just about closed when the door between their chambers was tugged open.

Sho cried out in surprise, thankful that he hadn’t been caught naked or using his chamber pot.

He turned, setting the book aside to find Jun leaning in the doorway. The castle was warmer than the Lucky 7 had been, and Jun was dressed in one of his finer kimono, an indigo shot through with lavender. His hair was down, a mess of untamed black that fell to his chin. From the pink in his cheeks and the way he swayed on his feet, he’d likely been drinking.

“Come, bring your stick,” he said, waving his hand at Sho before disappearing again, leaving the door open.

After four days of silence, Sho had been summoned. He sighed, getting out of bed and tugging on a robe over his pajamas, sliding into a pair of warm slippers. Bring your stick. Reluctantly, Sho grabbed his Light Staff from where he’d left it atop his bookshelf.

He discovered that his room was not directly adjoined to Jun’s bedchamber. Instead there was a separate dressing room that he passed through, full to bursting with clothing. He could hear sounds now, opening yet another door to find Jun’s actual bedchamber. There was a lit brazier in the corner providing limited light, but the noise now grew louder. Whatever it was came from the next room. No wonder Sho hadn’t heard a peep from him these four days, if this many thick walls separated them.

It was likely past midnight as Sho opened the door into what was Jun’s living quarters or receiving area. It was a much larger room. It had the characteristic low ceiling but it was a wide expanse full of plush couches, the walls covered in bookshelves that put the little one Sho had in his chamber to shame.

His drowsiness vanished, as the room had at least twenty or thirty people inside. Near the main double doors to the chamber a few musicians were seated, two women with white-painted faces and dark red lips plucking at a pair of shamisens. Tables had been set up and were full of trays with snackable items, indulgent desserts, and bottles of sake and plum wine. It appeared that the young lord was having a party.

Everyone seemed to be amused by the sight of Sho wandering in wearing pajamas and slippers, their smiles seeming rather mean-spirited instead of welcoming. The dress code was fairly relaxed, a mixture of traditional kimono and simple tunics and trousers or skirts. The behavior was equally relaxed, several couples openly kissing or holding hands. Almost every empty hand had a sake cup or wine glass in it while a few drunken guests were trying to dance to the music. Sho pushed on, finding Jun on one of the sofas. 

To Jun’s right was a young man about their age, curled up beside him comfortably, arm linked with Jun’s. To Jun’s left was a young woman, just as cozy beside him. They were smiling, laughing. Sho wasn’t sure if he should look at them or look away as he watched a drunken, merry Jun kiss each of them in turn with considerable fervor. Sho eventually grew impatient when the woman started to press kisses against Jun’s neck, teasing her hand down his leg. Sho’s chest ached when Jun offered a gentle moan of encouragement, eyes fluttering closed and his long eyelashes brushing his cheeks. 

“My lord, I’ve brought my stick,” he interrupted.

Jun opened his eyes again, grinning at the sight of him. “Ah, and so you have. Toma, this is him.”

The young man Jun had been kissing had a wicked look to him, a handsome face, slipping his hand into Jun’s comfortably. “My friend,” Toma said, offering Sho a kind smile. “What a mistake you’ve made, tying yourself to this fool for eternity.”

Sho said nothing as Jun batted at Toma playfully, gesturing for his friend (or whatever he was) to refill his glass.

The woman also looked at Sho with amusement. “Hi there, gorgeous. My family would never be able to afford one of you. At least not on a permanent basis.”

Toma left the sofa, carrying Jun’s glass and his own as he stumbled to the table to refresh their drinks. Not that any of the people in the room needed any more.

“Sakurai Sho, may her light shine upon you,” he introduced himself, inclining his head.

“And so polite,” the woman teased, pressing another kiss to Jun’s arm. “Praise her loving light. Far less than you deserve, Jun-kun.”

Jun chuckled, looking Sho up and down in a way that made him feel exposed. “Sho-san, have something to eat, have a drink…join us.”

“I thought you had need of me, my lord.”

Sho soon felt an arm around him. It was Toma, laughing. “ _I_ have need of you. I’ve never been with anyone from the sacred island. Is it true what they say? That you have a marking from the Lady? I heard they were all on your chest, but I won’t know unless you allow me to try and find it.”

Sho grew even more uncomfortable, unsure what to do. He didn’t know what Jun wanted, didn’t know who any of these people were.

“Stop being such a cad, Toma,” Jun chided his friend. He detangled himself from the woman and got to his feet, taking the glass of plum wine from Toma with a yank that had several droplets spilling onto the carpet. It would surely stain.

Jun came closer, eyes wavering from his drunken state. There was none of the fear Jun had displayed toward him back in Ama-no-Iwato. And there was none of the kindness from the beach when Jun had vowed to treat him well here.

“Sho-san,” he said, resting an almost possessive hand on Sho’s shoulder. “I’d like you to meet the Lady Asami of Clan Mizukawa. Her family serves as vassal to ours and owes mine a great deal of money…”

Asami merely rolled her eyes, laughing.

“And then you’ve had to meet Ikuta Toma, son of another family that’s had the misfortune of pledging its allegiance to Kaido. Don’t let his flirtations work on you. He’s not actually that good in bed.”

“Oi,” Toma protested lightly before having a seat beside Asami and facing no resistance when he rested his hand on her leg. “It’s hard to satisfy a selfish sadist like our dear lord Jun.”

Jun snickered. “I ought to gag you for the way you speak to me, Toma, but I think you’d like it too much.” He turned to Sho, a twinkle in his eyes. “It’s far more fun when they make you work for it. Which do you prefer, Sho-san?”

Sho felt his face grow hot, unable to answer. He’d not seen this version of Jun on Isejima, although there’d been little opportunity for it. 

“Let me show you off,” Jun declared, not seeming to care that Sho had ignored his question. 

Sho had little choice but to hold on to his Light Staff as Jun drunkenly dragged him around the room. He was introduced to the sons and daughters of other minor nobles, to the sons and daughters of people who served on Lord Hideo’s council. Though Kaido was cold, the young lord’s chambers were hot, uncomfortable, a place for wealthy kids to gather and indulge themselves since they were not apparently needed elsewhere.

Finally, Jun brought him to the center of the room, clapping his hands to make an announcement. The shamisen playing stopped and all eyes were upon them. “And now I’m going to have Sho-san prove to you that he’s worth every ounce of gold my father paid for him.”

Sho looked down, mortified at the laughter that followed. Why was he doing this? After four days of fine food and leaving him be, why was Jun doing this to him? Showing him off to his friends like he was nothing but a pet rather than a person.

Jun looked over, eyes meeting with Asami’s. “Come here. Come here, and I’ll have Rin-chan knock a bit off your father’s loan when she gets back.”

“As though you have any influence with her,” Toma crowed, more laughs arriving at Jun’s expense this time.

Asami got to her feet anyway, her robe spilling open and revealing her undergarments. She caught Sho watching, smiling and lightly holding it closed as she let Jun arrange her in front of the sofa.

“Everyone get out of the way,” Jun ordered, clearing a path in the center of the room. “Make way for the light show.”

The guests stopped kissing, groping, drowning in alcohol. They all gathered around, locking Sho in until he was standing there about ten paces from Lady Asami. Jun had melted into the crowd, arms around two other guests, a hand resting possessively on a hip belonging to each.

“Someone get Asami a candle,” Jun slurred, gesturing to one of the light fixtures on the wall. “Put it out.”

One of the guests did as ordered, bringing one back.

“Asami, hold it out in front of you,” Jun said. “Or hold it in your mouth, you’re good at that…”

The room seemed to think that was hilarious, including Lady Asami. She chose to hold the candle in her hand instead, holding it out as Jun wished.

Sho looked over, and Jun’s eyes were dark, watching him with the same intensity they had that first night when he’d been a guest in the Sakurai home.

“Sho-san’s gonna light that candle.”

Sho’s mouth went dry as the room erupted in alcohol-fueled cheers. He stared at Jun in protest, and Jun only stared back, daring him. Jun had known of Sho’s limitations. And even though his powers had appeared to have grown stronger since the Bonding on Isejima, Sho hadn’t done anything like this. At least not when another person was so close. Not when Lady Asami could be seriously hurt.

Why was Jun doing this? What was he after? What was he trying to prove? Did he have faith that Sho would be up to the task? Or was he willing to put a friend in harm’s way simply to see Sho fail?

Was this payback for Ama-no-Iwato? For the fright Sho had caused him? 

His brain throbbed with questions, but Jun’s smile grew at his obvious discomfort.

“Come on,” Jun urged him. “My father will eventually order this little soiree to be ended, so it’s now or never.”

Sho’s light magic was a gift to be used in service of the Lady’s wishes. It wasn’t a parlor trick. But even after all they’d been through, this was what Jun thought of his powers. This was the lack of respect Jun had for Amaterasu.

He turned, gripping his Light Staff tightly. He saw no fear in Lady Asami’s eyes, only awe, perhaps a little lust mixed in with it. He’d seen similar looks in the faces of the people Jun had introduced him to. Jun’s blasphemy was obvious, but it seemed that his friends didn’t share his views. They were excited to see the light magic of Isejima displayed before their eyes without a portal from the Dark Realm being the cause of it and ruining their fun.

They started to chant and clap. “Light it, light it, light it.”

Sho shut his eyes, silently praying to the Lady for forgiveness and equally for guidance. Please don’t let me hurt an innocent woman for Jun’s entertainment, he begged.

He raised his hand, pressing it to his heart as their chants grew louder. He opened his eyes, raising his Light Staff to direct the light. He tuned them out, all of them. Jun. Lady Asami. The foolish drunken horde. He focused on the candle. On only the candle. Only the candle. Only the candle.

The candle was struck with a sharp spark that made Lady Asami jump, but she was unhurt. It stayed lit and the room erupted. Sho could only look at Jun, and he was astonished by the look in his face. Pride. Pride and something else. 

Desire. 

But before Sho could think about that look any more, the guests all started moving toward him. Me. Me next. I’ll put the candle in my mouth, I want to try. Me. Me next.

Sho backed away, not caring if he was bumping into and knocking aside Jun’s friends. He didn’t care if Jun was going to order him to do it again. Sho refused. He refused. Staff clutched against him, he fled the awful stink of alcohol and sweating bodies, slamming the door as the shamisen music started up again. He slammed each door behind him until he reached his own chamber, dropping his staff to the ground and sliding his back down the door until he was sitting in a heap on the floor, tears falling from his eyes.

“Lady of Heaven, forgive me,” he cried.

He couldn’t reconcile them, couldn’t figure out how the Jun in that chamber was the same person Sho had been charged with protecting. How were all of these contradictions rolled up into one frustrating person?

What a mistake you’ve made, Toma had said, tying yourself to this fool for eternity.

He was right. He was absolutely right. 

Sho looked at his palm, tracing where the knife had been drawn against his skin. It was gone, fully healed. But the Bonding would endure. Matsumoto Jun was his to protect. Always. And always had never felt so impossible.

—

Jun left him alone for the next three weeks. If he had any other debauched parties, Sho was not invited or forced to attend. The food Sho received changed, however. Portions were larger, the type of food was even better. He hated when the trays were brought in, how impossible it was to turn up his nose at the food. He couldn’t bear to waste anything, knowing from his travels that others might go days without a good meal.

He felt as though he knew the castle well by now, the places where he could sit quietly without interruption, the servants with whom he could speak if only for the bare minimum of socialization to keep from going stir crazy in his room. He’d seen a few of the faces from Jun’s party here and there, alone or with what seemed to be family members. But it seemed as though the aura he radiated, the anger in his expression, was enough to keep them from approaching him and asking him to perform like a trained dog. Sho was thankful for that, even if it meant having no friends or allies here.

Lord Hideo made no effort to meet with him, but he was understandably too busy to give a damn about his son’s Light Guardian. From whispers in the halls, it seemed that Matsumoto Town had seen six portals open in the last few weeks. Twenty-seven people in all had been killed at last count, even with the streets patrolled by light magic users the lord had hired. Even in the bitter cold, the patrols went out. Sho felt them sometimes, the open portals calling to him. A lingering ache. Nothing so painful as when he’d felt like Jun was in danger, nothing like the pain he’d felt upon tasting Jun’s blood in Ama-no-Iwato. With the Bonding, it seemed that Sho’s own reaction to the Dark Lord’s incursions was slightly dulled. With Jun apparently in the castle, he was not in harm’s way.

The rest of Kaido was equally plagued by the piercing of the veil between their world and the Dark Realm. It was worse for those dwelling in the countryside. Portals lay undiscovered longer if they were torn open in the middle of a forest, in the deserted open tundra further north. It might take Shadows longer to find victims, but still there was always someone to find. It was difficult sometimes to determine if people went missing because of Shadows or because of the perils of living in such a harsh environment. 

In less than two months the Kaidogawa would freeze, making travel even more difficult for the groups sent out from the castle to respond to calls for help from elsewhere on the island. Jun’s sister, Lady Rinko, was set to return before the great and lasting freeze to coordinate with her father, determine the best deployment tactics to try and keep the Dark Lord’s forces at bay during the long, long winter. It did not seem that Jun played any sort of role in the planning. Sho had lingered outside of the war rooms sometimes, seeing if any loose-lipped guard might give him a hint as to what might be happening in the world outside of Matsumoto Castle’s walls. He’d never once seen Jun pass by, had never heard him mentioned.

Even if he was the second-born child and unlikely to hold actual power on the northern islands, why did he shy away from helping? Had it been his father’s choice? Despite their differences, wouldn’t Lord Hideo want the services of any light magic user he could get a hold of? Couldn’t Lord Hideo order Jun onto a patrol, if only to get Sho and his magic out into the streets of Matsumoto Town? Sho wasn’t as weak as he’d been before, and after weeks trapped here, he wanted an outlet for his anger, for the power inside him that was going unused. The Bonding, in Sho’s mind, seemed like an awful waste of money if he was allowed to stroll through the castle and eat like a lord himself but contribute nothing otherwise to his upkeep.

He felt as though he was a plague on Madame Kaga some days, inquiring about how he might be put to use in the castle otherwise. Certainly Sho could dust something, polish silver, scrub a floor. But the answer was always no. “It is for the young lord to decide how you might be wielded.”

But the young lord seemed only to want Sho to grow fat and idle here while he slept around with his friends at court, spending day after lazy day achieving nothing.

Sho was walking back to his room one afternoon, having spent a few hours wandering among the plants and vegetables growing in the castle’s hothouse. He was just about to go up the stone steps to the second floor when he felt that pain wash over him, consume him as it had in the cave. 

Jun was in trouble.

Thankfully he went everywhere with his Light Staff, so he tried to follow the pain, to find where Jun was. To his surprise, the journey brought him to the docks, down the long staircase and deep underground into the grotto where the family’s boats were moored. He’d had few reasons to come down here since his arrival, other than a few walks here and there until some of the dock workers kindly asked him to get lost.

He hung back along the walls, trying to stay out of the way. Lady Rinko would be home in a month or so, and the castle was preparing for her arrival and that of her honor guard. The castle was also stocking up on supplies in anticipation of the deep freeze, so there were people everywhere with tasks to complete. None of them with time to yell at Sho for wandering around, hand clutching his chest to try and keep the pain at bay.

He felt drawn along a path he’d not taken before, past the bobbing boats and farther into the manmade cave. The canal stopped but the pathway continued around a bend, drawing Sho deeper into the hill the castle had been built into. He walked the winding path, although it seemed this was no forbidden or hidden trail. There were plenty of torches anchored in holders along the way. This was simply an area Sho had not seen before.

The path eventually widened, revealing an iron door built into the wall. This was the way, the pain was telling him. This is the way you must go to find him and help him. 

Even if Sho didn’t really want to, guilty as that thought made him feel.

He didn’t waste time knocking or even pondering what might be on the other side. He simply held tight to his staff and tugged the door open. 

“Hey, close the door, would ya? A draft might interfere with the experiment!” came a scratchy, excited voice. 

Sho found himself in what seemed like a laboratory, shelves full of jars and vials, their contents utterly unknown. It was a large room, and he couldn’t see the ceiling. It was likely part of the cave structure that had been constructed down here. There were a few tables, covered in papers, mortars and pestles, another smattering of jars.

The person who’d spoken had his back to him, dressed simply in a green tunic and dark trousers. He was hunkered down over a table, Jun standing on the opposite side looking angry.

“You’re not needed here, Sho-san,” Jun said, aiming a downright furious look in Sho’s direction. A nice way to be greeted after a month by the person one was sworn to protect.

The other man straightened up, turning around. He was taller than Sho, a little taller than Jun as well. Long limbs and a big smile. “Oh, so you’re the famous Sho-chan of Isejima! We finally get to meet!”

“This isn’t a social club,” Jun complained, thumping his fist on the work table.

Sho stayed in the doorway, confused as much by the room itself as he was by the strange man addressing him so informally. “What is this place?”

“It’s none of your business,” Jun said, almost at the same time the other man said “it’s the alchemy lab!”

“Masaki,” Jun grumbled.

The man named Masaki left the table behind. He’d been on the verge of mixing two jars of ingredients together, but he set them down and approached.

“I’m Aiba Masaki,” the man introduced himself. He had hair cropped short, was clearly a very excitable person, and he had none of the grace that Jun possessed. A shiny earring pierced into the side of his ear stood out from his dyed brown hair. “And as I was saying, this is the alchemy lab. Welcome!”

Jun sighed, rolling his eyes. “Were you following me? How did you even get here?”

Sho wasn’t too keen about telling Jun about the pain in his chest. It would just be one more thing Jun could use in the future to take advantage of him. “I was taking a walk.”

“Don’t listen to Matsujun, I’ve been trying to get him to bring you here for weeks,” Aiba-san continued.

Sho’s ears perked up at that. “Matsu…jun?”

“You don’t get to call me that. You will never get to call me that,” Jun asserted, leaning across the table to try and grab the mysterious jars himself. “If you two are going to have a chat, I’ll continue working.”

As soon as Jun’s hands closed around the jars, the pain in Sho’s chest soared. “Wait!” he cried out, heart racing. “Wait, wait.”

“What’s wrong?” Aiba asked. 

“What…what’s going on in here? What are you mixing together?”

Thankfully, Jun set the jars down and the pain greatly subsided.

“Well,” Aiba said, taking hold of Sho by the arm as if they were lifelong friends. “Lord Hideo doesn’t pay me much mind down here, this is all under the Lady Rinko’s authorization. I’m an alchemist. Um…well, I’m an apprentice alchemist. It’s Matsu-nii who runs the operations here, but since he’s traveling with Lady Rinko right now, I’m in charge of the lab so…”

“You would be absolutely worthless if our clan ever went to war,” Jun complained. “Spilling all our secrets to the first person who asks…”

“The only war is the one against the Dark Lord,” Aiba continued, bringing Sho over to the work table. “And it’s a war we’ve been trying to fight on another front.”

“Masaki…” Jun warned him again, but it seemed as though Jun’s friend was just as stubborn and defiant as he was.

“Why is it so wrong for Sho-chan to know? He’s living here, and he was probably going to have to be told eventually.”

“It’s none of his business,” Jun protested.

“Well, I’m here now, and it looks like you’re messing with some dangerous chemicals. What is the purpose of this place?” Sho asked.

Aiba took charge of the conversation. “Lady Rinko hired Matsu-nii a few years ago, as soon as Lord Hideo started grooming her to take over the clan. Oh. You don’t know him. His name is Matsuoka, he’s an alchemist. Originally from Shuhon, but they’re a bit…religious there, so people like him aren’t very welcome.”

Sho was confused. “An alchemist? Don’t they just make medicines? Why would anyone oppose that?”

“Well, yes,” Aiba continued, “but Matsu-nii has always been ambitious. He’s been trying to manufacture light. I know what you’re thinking, that’s what fire is for. But no, no, it’s different. He’s been trying to weaponize light itself as a way to fight back the Shadows. Basically, he’s looking for a way to take what you can do and make it something that anyone can do. No offense.”

Sho looked between Aiba and Jun. He suddenly remembered the conversation he and Jun had had at the Sun Cliffs. 

_We’ll find a way to push the Shadows back without relying on families like yours. One day we’ll be able to save ourselves._

Suddenly Sho realized exactly why Matsuoka the alchemist wasn’t welcome among the religious folks of Shuhon. Or anywhere else in the Stormlands for that matter.

“You’re trying to use alchemy to create your own form of light magic?” Sho asked, astonished. “Light magic is Amaterasu’s gift to us. Making your own imitation of the power she’s given us…that’s…that’s the ultimate blasphemy.”

“Is it?” Jun interrupted. “There’s only one island like yours, Sho-san. Only one in all the Stormlands. Only one small pool of human beings who can wield light to fight back against the darkness. It’s not fair, and people are getting killed. It makes no sense to just keep letting it happen. If Matsuoka-san and Masaki can find a way to replicate what you do, to use science and reason to imitate the light magic of Isejima, then lives will be saved. What’s so wrong about it?”

“It’s…” Sho struggled to find a denial. “It’s…simply not the way of things.”

“And that’s why people continue to die every day,” Aiba said, his voice a bit gentler than Jun’s. “I may not have the same feelings Matsujun has about the Lady of Heaven, but didn’t she create us? If she didn’t want us to think, if she didn’t want us to use our thoughts and ideas to help others, then wouldn’t she have struck us down already? Matsu-nii’s been working on this for years. I’ve been here for two years myself helping him. If it was true blasphemy, Amaterasu would punish us.”

The Jun in this room, determined to find a way to fight the Shadows himself, did not seem to match up with the Jun from that terrible night, drunk and lusty and foolish. 

“Does your father know what you do here?” Sho asked quietly.

“No,” Jun said. “And as long as he keeps believing I’m a worthless piece of garbage, then our work can continue while Rin-chan and Matsuoka-san are away.”

“You said Lady Rinko hired Matsuoka-san?” Sho continued. “She supports this?”

“Yes,” Jun replied simply.

The Matsumoto Jun from that night three weeks ago, the intoxicated playboy…he was mostly an illusion. The Matsumoto Jun who’d caused problems for his father, who’d made so much trouble on Isejima…he was an exaggeration of a sort as well. He was a Jun created and diligently maintained to keep Lord Hideo ignorant of both of his children’s actions, this secret, blasphemous lab right under his own castle. 

And yet that wasn’t the whole truth of it. Sho had known that Jun had taken some pleasure in forcing him to light that candle that night, to put his magic on display. But all that had been because of what he was doing here. What Sho did, what Sho could do, what the people of Isejima had been able to do for generations…it wouldn’t be such a big deal if any man or woman could do it.

Jun looked rather proud. “My father’s golden girl is a blasphemer of the highest order. He thinks this is just a lab for her to develop experimental weapons or new medicines. And surely Matsuoka-san does that to save face. But from the beginning, Rin-chan wanted this to be a place to craft light. When she travels in father’s name, Matsuoka-san is with her, investigating places where portals have been. Talking to the contracted light magic users. We think that we may soon have a workable prototype, and Masaki and I are trying to get something ready to show Rin-chan when she returns.”

Hence the two jars. Sho gestured to them. “And you were going to what, just mix something together and see what happens? Without taking any precautions? What if you blew yourselves up?”

Aiba smiled. “Science and alchemy are all about risks.”

Sho shut his eyes. “I don’t even know where to start with everything that’s wrong about this.”

“Well, whenever you do start, you’ll be keeping it to yourself,” Jun said sharply. “Rin-chan and I have worked too hard to get the funding for this, to keep trying. I won’t let you ruin this by running to my father and ratting us out. You made a vow to me in that cave, Sho-san, and I don’t plan to forget it. What happened to ‘I bleed for you and you bleed for me’, huh?”

He exhaled slowly, hating the multitude of dangers that this lab entailed. For one, it was treason, going behind Lord Hideo’s back so openly when Sho knew the man was devoted to the Lady, the same as almost everyone in the Stormlands. For two, it was blasphemy, an open flouting of the purposeful way Amaterasu had given her gift to Isejima and only Isejima. And for three, messing with alchemy, mixing ingredients together to try and create light or a weaponized equivalent…that could backfire and cause lasting damage. Or far, far worse. Jun, Aiba, Matsuoka-san, Lady Rinko…they could be killed. So could anyone else in range of whatever weapon they were trying to create here.

Sho had so many reasons to flee this chamber and beg for an audience with Jun’s father. And yet he couldn’t.

“Sho-san, I promised that you wouldn’t be miserable here,” Jun said, at least having the decency to look somewhat apologetic. Even sincere. “And maybe I’ve been bad at upholding that. I’m sorry. I just…I didn’t want you to find out about this. I didn’t want to get you mixed up in it.”

“Well, it’s too late now,” Sho replied, but held up a hand when Jun opened his mouth to protest. “I’m not going to tell anyone. As you said, I made a vow. But unlike you, I don’t break them.”

Aiba giggled. “I like you, Sho-chan.”

Jun pinched the bridge of his nose. “I especially didn’t want the two of you meeting. The two biggest pains in my ass.”

Aiba wrapped a friendly arm around Sho, giving him a squeeze. “Matsujun loves me, no matter how much he tries to deny it. Maybe in time he’ll change his mind about you too.”

Sho reddened at that, shrugging. “I’m not here to be…loved or anything.”

Jun’s ears were equally pink in embarrassment. “Are you going to let us get back to work? Or are you going to continue to hover around and peck at me like a mother hen?”

Sho moved, pulling up a stool to the work table and having a seat. “You can keep working. That doesn’t mean I’ll ever stop pecking.”

Aiba let out a whooping cheer. “Great! We can always use another set of hands around here. Now! Sho-chan, I want you to tell me everything you know about light magic and everything about how you wield it.”

—

Things changed that day. 

It was strange, sitting in that lab with them, talking about his light magic as if it was some tangible thing he could explain. He even held demonstrations for them, “attacking” the small targets Aiba set up for him in the lab. Aiba took copious notes, watching the way Sho’s light appeared, saw the damage inflicted on the targets. But no matter how many times he did it, no matter how many different ways Aiba asked him about it, Sho honestly couldn’t explain how it was done. He simply thought and light appeared. How in the world could someone find a way to create that without the Lady of Heaven’s guidance?

But Aiba and Jun were both determined to find a way, no matter the cost.

Now Sho was tangled up in it. Though he expected to be struck down or punished, for the Lady to make her dissatisfaction with them abundantly clear, nothing happened. In fact, once he’d joined them in the alchemy lab, the pain in his chest had vanished as though it had never been there.

Being with Jun, watching over him and protecting him even as he openly flouted the world the Lady had built for them…this must still be Amaterasu’s plan. That was the only explanation that made sense. Even as Jun betrayed her with his arrogance and his haphazard science, she had not punished him. Or his sister. Or Aiba Masaki and Matsuoka Masahiro-san, the alchemist.

Sho returned to the lab every day that month, even if the discussions Aiba and Jun had didn’t make much sense. The vocabulary was entirely alien to him. Aiba liked to draw diagrams, showing the potential reactions that could happen if certain concoctions were mixed together. But even after all these years, they hadn’t found anything that worked. Not even Matsuoka-san, who had years of experience creating medicines.

How could that light be replicated? How could it be harnessed or controlled? Aiba and Matsuoka’s theories so far seemed to accept that there really was no method of control, not in the way a light magic user like Sho could use their staff to direct the beam. Instead, they mostly sought to develop a formula for front-line usage. Some sort of potion or compound that would create a flash of light at the same power and intensity as the Isejima light magic.

An ordinary soldier could then attack a Shadow or a portal with the potential compound, whether to cause a distraction or slow a Shadow’s approach in order for a light magic user to finish the job. They weren’t quite to the concept of complete independence from Isejima magic yet. Baby steps, Aiba called it. Jun was clearly displeased with the slow progress, but Sho was able to observe a different side of him down here underground.

A Matsumoto Jun who was obsessed with the project, full of endless ideas, even if he was not as strong as Aiba was at understanding the composition of materials. He designed hand bombs that could be flung. He proposed a new type of gunpowder, laced with the light-causing substance, so that when fired from a rifle it might flash with the same level of intensity as Sho’s magic. This was not the young man Sho had met on Isejima, the lazy kid who was his father’s greatest disappointment.

This was someone who desperately wanted to save lives.

Sho liked this Matsumoto Jun far better. Sometimes Sho even forgot how wrong this was, sitting around the lab and pondering ways to make his own power obsolete. He was utterly captivated when Jun spoke, his hands and his fancy kimono covered in chalk dust as he presented his designs to Aiba, who always had books open in search of new materials they might try and experiment with.

He’d been confronted with so many versions of Matsumoto Jun in these few months of knowing him. He was still stubborn, confrontational. A person who said what was on his mind, no matter how it would be received. But he was also determined, dedicated. Sho would stir in the wee hours of the morning, finding Aiba curled up on the sofa in the corner of the lab, snoring. Blinking sleep from his eyes, he’d see Jun still standing at the chalkboard, talking to himself under his breath, trying to sort through the flood of ideas in his mind and see them expressed in words and pictures.

Did Sho think that Jun and his sister and their hired alchemists would find a viable way to recreate light magic? No. No, he didn’t. He even prayed to the goddess that they wouldn’t find a way, even as it gutted him to wish for Jun to fail. He simply couldn’t bear the thought of a world order where Amaterasu’s gifts to them were meaningless.

With each day and night they spent in the lab together, Sho was increasingly torn between what he had believed his whole life to be right and the passion Jun had for his work.

They were wrapping things up, absurdly late once again. They mainly stayed up late so that Jun might eat meals with his father, to keep up the facade before sneaking back down to the lab. Lady Rinko would arrive the following day, would clearly be hoping for an update from her brother, would be sharing anything she had learned during her time away.

Aiba had already left, going back up to his rooms to give his mind and body a rest so that he could meet up with Matsuoka-san refreshed and ready. Jun, however, had a one-track mind about things, poring through books that Aiba and Matsuoka had long since rejected, hoping to find answers they might have missed.

Lord Hideo would assume Jun had been up having another of his wild parties. He’d had a few that week to keep up appearances, returning to the lab once things had gotten to a point where his absence wouldn’t even have been missed. Jun was clearly exhausted, barely fueled by his meals, bags under his eyes and hair yanked into a sloppy knot to keep it out of his face while he worked, squinting at the pages due to obviously untreated issues with his eyesight.

The goal had been to have something to present Lady Rinko with. Jun and Aiba had only ideas, nothing proven, tested, or viable. Jun desperately wanted to impress the older sister who’d looked out for him all these years, playing at loyalty to her father while working at her brother’s side to change the world, even in their own small way. Jun clearly worshipped his older sister, admired the way she balanced her role as the clan’s heir and undermined their father and the goddess herself at the same time.

Staying up late was only going to hurt him, and Sho finally decided to put his foot down, desperately trying to stay awake himself. He couldn’t bear to leave Jun alone in the lab without Aiba around. Who knew what ingredients he might mix together in his desperation? Light magic wouldn’t save Jun from something like that, and the thought of it had kept Sho restless most nights.

He watched Jun read the thin pages, squinting and squinting in the torchlight which was surely making things even harder. He crossed his arms, sitting on the uncomfortable stool. His back ached.

“My lord, you need to rest.”

Jun ignored him. Probably hadn’t even heard him. 

“My lord,” Sho repeated, raising his voice a little.

Another page turned.

Sho hid a smile. “Hey…Matsujun.”

At that, Jun looked up with an ugly sneer on his face.

“Didn’t I say you weren’t allowed to use that?”

Sho shrugged. “Got your attention though, didn’t it?”

Jun leaned back from how he was hunched over, groaning in pain as he cracked his back and his neck. It made Sho’s chest burn, just a little, to see him like that. He wondered if that would ever dull in time.

“This is hopeless,” Jun mumbled.

“But you have ideas to present Lady Rinko in any case,” Sho said, trying to praise him. “You and Aiba-kun can tell her what is definitely not going to work. That’s something too.”

Jun leaned his elbows on the table, sighing. “It’s nearly winter. It’s going to be harder for any teams to close portals that may appear. Even in Matsumoto Town, it will be challenging.”

“It may be a few more winters before you achieve anything. You have to accept that this is not a problem easily solved.”

“That sounds about right coming from a killjoy like you,” Jun complained. “You have no desire for things to change. You like being special.”

He frowned. “I don’t think of it that way. I have a duty.”

“A duty to support me,” Jun reminded him.

Sho could tell that Jun was more cranky because of a lack of sleep than anything else. “Show me the balcony.”

Jun looked up, running his hands through his hair, loosening the knot that somehow kept it all together. “What?”

“You told me there was a balcony here with a fine view of the stars. I never get any fresh air, so the least you could do is show it to me before it gets too cold to go outside.” He got off the stool, wincing at the noisy scrape it made against the floor.

“I did tell you about that, didn’t I?” Jun mumbled. He let out a low noise of frustration, slamming the book shut. “Fine. Fine, I give up.”

They left the lab as they had every night. Jun brought a cloak with a hood, keeping to the shadows in the docks as he snuck back upstairs to the castle. Sho had no hood, waiting a few minutes after Jun’s departure before leaving, retracing the same paths even more slowly in case any workers were down in the grotto after hours.

He found Jun waiting for him at the top of the stairs. “Follow me.”

Sho had spent little time in the castle’s main dining room and reception halls. Lord Hideo preferred the warmth of his private audience chamber and the war rooms for meetings with the people of Kaido or his advisors. The rooms were empty, only opened to be kept clean. There was a large round table in the dining room, designed for meetings of the Council of Five. It had been years since one had been held in Kaido. The “southerners,” as Lord Hideo called them sometimes, couldn’t bear the journey or the climate once they arrived.

He and Jun paused by a fireplace in the back of the room. The fireplace wasn’t lit, as it would be a waste of effort and energy. Instead there were a few torches hung along the walls, no braziers for warmth. It was damn cold in here, but there was something Jun wished for him to see. Jun gestured upward to an empty glass case that was hung over the fireplace. Sho had long been curious about it, but he hadn’t wanted anyone to know he’d taken a peek in the dining room, so he’d kept his questions to himself.

“It’s the case for Kusanagi whenever it’s here,” Jun admitted. “I’m sure that’s exciting for you.”

“Truly?” Sho asked, staring up at the case in the shadowy room.

“Truly,” Jun said. “But it’s not due back here for another year or so.”

It was the case for the always-traveling Sword of Light, the Lady of Heaven’s beloved Kusanagi. In most years, it stayed with one of the families in the Council of Five, but in others it visited smaller lands, vassal islands loyal to one of the five families.

“I’ve never seen it,” Sho admitted. “But I’m glad I’ll get a chance to by living here.”

“The real reason you agreed to be my Light Guardian, huh? For a boring tourist attraction.” Jun sounded amused. “It’s just a sword. There’s nothing holy about it. It doesn’t glow in the dark or anything. I’ve never been impressed by it. Don’t see why anyone else would be either.”

Sho allowed the little dig at his faith. By now he’d simply grown accustomed to Jun’s misguided opinions about the Lady and her sacred objects. 

“I’ll pass judgment when I see it with my own eyes, my lord.”

Jun tugged on his sleeve. “Come on, it’s this way.”

There was a door in the corner of the room, unlocked when Jun pushed it open. It was bitterly cold, the pair of them shivering as they headed down a short hallway. “In summer, if you can call it that, we sometimes host parties here. Do a little stargazing. It’s probably not as peaceful as your little beach back home, but I do like it.”

Sho followed Jun outside, trying to ignore the horrible cold in favor of letting his lungs be filled with fresh, clean air. 

“Here, give me that,” Jun said, tugging the Light Staff from him. He used it to prop the door open. “If there’s a gust of wind, it might shut and I’m not in the mood to freeze to death out here with you.”

Sho allowed the re-purposing of the staff, crossing his arms and stepping out onto the balcony with Jun. It was solid stone with a wall going all the way around that was taller than a man’s height, so there was no real view of Matsumoto Town or Kaido beyond. He could see the dark shadowy outline of the nearby hills, but despite the lack of a view directly before him, he gasped when he finally looked up.

The sky was different here, different than it was back home. There were probably lights on in the squat little houses of Matsumoto Town, so it wasn’t as dark. But the moon was full tonight, the stars in slightly different positions since they were much further north. It wasn’t the Western Beach, but it was still beautiful.

“If you go further north, nearly to the tip of Kaido, it looks even more amazing. There are the Sky Lights. Winter is the best chance to enjoy them, as the nights are likely to be the clearest and the colors are strongest.”

“Have you seen them?” Sho asked.

Jun shook his head. “I’ve never had the chance. I don’t get to venture far. Rin-chan has seen them though.”

Thick ribbons and bands of green light flooding the skies, provided the skies were clear and you were far enough north. It had been on Sho’s list of things to see when he’d started traveling, though he’d never managed to find transportation to get him there. Kaido had been too dangerous even without the Dark Lord’s Shadows threatening it.

There was none of that here, but the regular starlight and moonlight soothed Sho, made him feel fortunate to be alive, under the Lady’s light. He moved to the center of the balcony, shivering a little but turning slowly, trying to enjoy the view from every possible angle.

“I’ve made things difficult for you here, Sho-san.”

He looked away from the sky, saw that Jun was looking up and not at him. 

“We don’t believe the same things, and that has made your task more challenging. Knowing what you know about the lab and what our intentions are.”

“My lord…”

“I want to tell you something, okay,” Jun said, voice nearly lost to the wind. “Maybe I should have told you on Isejima, so you wouldn’t have gone all this time just thinking I’m some misguided person who disrespects your faith.”

Sho couldn’t look away from him. “What is it?”

“When I was seven, a portal from the Dark Realm opened inside the castle. In Matsumoto Castle.” Jun moved to step closer, if only so that his voice could be heard. “It opened in my room when my mother was there, wishing me a good night. Not my room now, different part of the castle. Room’s still locked up.”

Sho remembered a room near Lord Hideo’s that had always been shut, blocked off with a screen in front of it.

“I saw the shimmer, in the corner. I didn’t know what was happening, I’d never seen one, so I was just looking at it while my mother read me a story. She didn’t notice it either, she was sitting on my bed with her back to it. Well. I’m sure you can see where this goes,” Jun said, voice trembling. “The Shadow…it…it wrapped around her neck, tugged her backward off the bed…”

Sho felt horrible for him. “You don’t…you don’t have to tell me everything if it’s painful…”

“Ryoko-san, she was very young then, but already Bonded to my mother. She had come running, almost like she had sensed what was going to happen before it happened. I only know this because she told my father. And my father told Rin-chan. My mother was screaming, being dragged to the portal, and all I could do was sit there in my bed, watching her get taken away, too paralyzed to do anything. Ryoko-san came in, and the light was strong when she started to attack, but my mother said to get me out instead. Maybe Ryoko-san could have destroyed the Shadow and sealed the portal, but instead she did what my mother said. She picked me up out of the bed and pushed me into the hallway. Hell, she mostly just kind of flung me. Then she slammed the door closed.”

Sho heard Jun let out a long sigh.

“In choosing to save me, it gave the Shadow enough time to steal my mother away. All that was left was for Ryoko-san to seal the portal shut, to make sure nobody else was taken by the Dark Lord.” He cleared his throat. “So Sho-san, when you asked about her before, I said she was gone. I never said she was dead. She was just…gone.”

Sho crossed his arms tighter, hugging himself a little. There was no coming back from the Dark Realm. No matter how you described it…being gone, being dead. Those people would not return. Nobody knew what happened to them, but most prayed that their deaths were quick.

“A portal opened in my own home and there was nothing to be done. Ryoko-san was sworn to protect my mother, and she failed. If my mother could have protected herself in that moment, she wouldn’t have had to make the choice to have Ryoko-san get me out of there,” Jun explained, voice bitter with what was now thirteen years of resentment. And likely an unhealthy dose of guilt, considering that he’d been saved and his mother hadn’t been. “Ryoko-san had to obey her, I suppose I get that…but why rely on Ryoko-san at all? That’s the kind of world we live in, Sho-san. A world where only a chosen few can fight back. It’s a world I hate.”

Matsumoto Jun’s motives were all the more clear to him now. So were his sister’s, since she’d only been eleven when her mother had been taken away. It made sense that two heartbroken children would seek a different path, away from the Lady’s light, desperate to find a way to ensure that what happened to their mother would not happen to any other person. It was admirable, and Sho didn’t think it was too blasphemous to admit that to himself.

“I’m truly sorry,” Sho said. 

The remark he’d made on Isejima, implying that Jun’s own mother would be ashamed of the man he’d become…Sho hated himself for saying such a terrible thing, letting his anger guide him. It couldn’t be further from the truth.

“Not that me admitting this really changes things for you, I know that. It’s still blasphemy, everything we fight for,” Jun replied. “My mother was truly devoted to Amaterasu. In this cold place, I remember her warmth. Her light. She seemed like she’d been blessed. Of all the people who didn’t deserve such a fate…”

Sho leaned forward, resting a hand on Jun’s shoulder. He felt a warmth in his chest at the contact, even outside on the frigid balcony. “We both want a world that is safe from the Dark Lord’s attacks. The rest of it, the manner in which it might be accomplished…maybe it doesn’t matter…”

Jun laughed quietly. “Careful, Sho-san…the Lady of Heaven may strike you dead where you stand.”

“You may not believe as I believe,” Sho mumbled. “But it is still my honor to serve you.”

Jun turned, Sho’s hand sliding down and away from him. But then he caught it, their cold hands joining in the starlight. Sho felt a fresh wave of heat burn through him. Not the pain that implied Jun was in danger. Not the frantic need to protect or possess him.

Something different. Something that was both difficult and easy to accept. Difficult because it was Jun. But also easy…because it was Jun.

Jun squeezed his hand. Sho saw the same realization in his eyes, the uncertainty mixed with acceptance. The feelings, though yet unspoken, were apparently mutual.

“It’s not likely that I’ll ever make it easy for you.”

“I’ve understood that from the moment we met, my lord.”

“Let’s get inside before we freeze.”

Sho squeezed Jun’s hand in return before letting him go, the moment passing without either of them putting words to what had changed that night, what had perhaps been building between them from the very beginning without either of them knowing it.

He yanked his staff back, and they let the door shut behind them. He trailed Jun back to his chambers, bidding him a quiet good night. Sho changed in a bit of a daze, struggling with something as simple as tugging on a shirt for bed.

Soon he was in the dark, under the thick blankets, realizing that his heart was still beating with a quickness that was almost embarrassing. 

Despite it all, Sho smiled.

—

Matsumoto Rinko returned to the castle with much fanfare. Sho had been invited to attend the banquet given in her honor. One of the long-shut receiving halls had been opened, scrubbed, filled with long tables for a celebratory meal. 

Sho had never seen Lord Hideo look so happy as he did at the head table, his beloved daughter now seated to his right. Jun continued to perform in the expected way, sitting to his father’s left, drinking lazily and pretending to be the disappointment of the family. It hurt Sho now to see Jun act that way. Jun had lost his father’s favor deliberately, but it still had to hurt to some degree. Would Lord Hideo ever truly know who his son was? 

Lady Rinko was elegant and graceful, though her long months of constant travel did not leave her as soft and pale as her brother. She was still beautiful, with large, intense eyes that resembled Jun’s. When she’d arrived that morning, her boat pulling up to the dock as the drums thundered, Sho had been truly impressed. She’d been dressed in full military regalia the same as the honor guard that followed her, twin swords at her waist the same as her father. At dinner, she appeared more like a noblewoman than a general at the front lines, wearing makeup and more feminine clothing to meet courtly expectations, but everyone seemed to look upon her with respect. Lord Hideo had trained her well. But even then, sitting there giving a report of her travels to her father, Sho knew about the secrets she kept from him.

Sho had been seated further down one of the banquet tables, and friendly company hadn’t been difficult to come by. Ikuta Toma had been seated to one side of him, Lady Asami to the other. Jun’s friends, who knew only parties and simple pleasures, did not know about the lab. About Jun and his sister’s secret mission.

“They say that Lord Hideo’s looking for a suitor worthy of Lady Rinko,” Toma was saying, leaning back in his chair and eating slices of persimmon in a way that was probably designed to draw Sho’s attention. In another place and time, perhaps Sho might have even been lured in. But in this place and this time, that wouldn’t happen. “That maybe he’ll be able to arrange something during the long winter.”

“There isn’t a man alive worthy of her,” Lady Asami declared at Sho’s other side. 

“What about Clan Ninomiya?” Toma asked. “I heard the second child has not been betrothed yet, the son.”

“Kokushi?” Asami snorted. “That backwater?”

“Careful,” Toma chided her, reaching across Sho to bat at her playfully. “You insult a clan in the Council of Five.”

“That they are still on the council is what confuses me,” Asami said.

“Ah, but that’s tradition for you,” Toma crowed, reaching for a stray grape on Sho’s plate and popping it into his mouth. “The Stormlands love their legacies and traditions. Right, Sho-san?”

“Right,” he replied, trying to be civil.

Kokushi, far to the southeast, had never had the sort of power or prestige that the other four council families possessed. Kokushi was the main island in a grouping of about a hundred, known mainly for their citrus and wheat exports, their copper mining. But the Sword of Light, Kusanagi, had been given to the ruling family there hundreds of years ago by the goddess herself, or so the stories said. It was Clan Ninomiya that had founded the Council of Five in order to keep the peace in the archipelago.

“Isn’t the son Jun-kun’s age?” Asami continued, crossing her arms. “I wonder…”

“Wait just a moment,” Toma said with a laugh, “don’t tell me you’ve just gone from ‘that backwater’ to ‘that place I might rule myself someday.’ Why would Clan Ninomiya even entertain a marriage alliance with your clan?”

“What? I like oranges…I could get used to it in time. Sure beats the climate in Kaido,” Asami said, letting her voice drift off into fantasy land.

“What about Sho-san here?” Toma teased, wrapping an arm around him as though they were the best of friends. “Since it’s obvious that Jun-kun’s only looking for some occasional fun and his father would never let you marry into his clan, why not aim for Isejima? You could have little light magic babies together.”

“Toma-san…” Sho said politely, desperate to change the subject.

Asami leaned over, resting a hand on his thigh. “Hmm, not a bad back-up plan. We had a connection, didn’t we? That night with the candle, Sho-san?”

“But Asami-chan, you’d never be number one in his heart. Not with that Bonding,” Toma teased. “How does that work? I’ve only ever heard rumors, Sho-san, so forgive me. Do you seal it with a kiss? Because with the way you’re looking at Jun-kun tonight, I’m pretty sure that hasn’t happened yet…”

“I need some air,” Sho announced, backing up abruptly as their laughter surrounded him.

By now, many of the guests had started to wander around, chatting with each other, so Sho’s chair scraping the floor did not seem to disturb anyone around them. He left Jun’s playful, harmless friends behind, moving through the receiving hall and back toward the dining room Jun had brought him to the night before. 

He found that the door to the balcony had already been propped open with another Light Staff.

He saw a woman standing outside, not quite dressed for the weather but not seeming to be all that affected by the cold. She turned, inclining her head in greeting. “You must be Sakurai Naoki-san’s boy.”

He joined the woman outside, wishing he’d bundled up better, clutching at his sleeves to keep warm. “Sakurai Sho. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Ryoko of the Yonekura family. We don’t have the reputation on Isejima that your family has, I’m afraid,” she said, offering a knowing smile. She’d still been a teenager when Jun’s mother had been stolen away to the Dark Realm. She was nearly thirty now, possessing a calm grace. 

“You serve as Light Guardian to Lady Rinko.”

“And you serve the young lord, her brother.”

“I do.”

It was a cloudy night tonight, not as much to see and enjoy overhead.

“He is a kind young man,” Ryoko said. Sho didn’t know what to say. Jun’s behavior at court clearly implied the opposite. “Don’t look so nervous, Sakurai-san, I know the real truth here.”

He blinked in surprise, seeing the concerned look in her eyes that likely matched his own. “You know of their…blasphemy?”

“If you’re referring to the true work that Matsuoka-san and Aiba-san are doing, then yes. Yes, I know of it.”

“It dishonors the Lady of Heaven,” he said, grateful to have another person from Isejima here to say these things to. “What they seek to accomplish.”

“And so we must pray for them.”

“I do. Constantly. I have been asking the Lady for her guidance from the day I met him,” he admitted. “And now…now it is an even bigger challenge, knowing what I know.”

“Above all, you must protect him,” Ryoko said. “That is what you promised the Lady.”

Sho shook his head. “Even though the path he’s chosen is blasphemy?”

“Yes. Yes, of course,” Ryoko replied, almost as if Sho was foolish to ask the question. “The Bonding requires much more of you than you realize. It requires compromise. And sacrifice.”

Sho wanted to ask her what it had felt like, knowing that she had been charged with protecting Jun’s mother but had still followed the woman’s orders to save her son first. Was that compromise? Was that sacrifice? He chose a different topic.

“May I ask you something, as someone who has also been Bonded to another?”

“Of course, Sho-san. There are fewer and fewer of us these days, so please don’t hesitate.”

He was nervous, fingers drifting to his heart. It was something he hadn’t had the courage to ask his parents. Neither of them had been through a Bonding. His grandfather had, but the man was no longer alive to be questioned.

“Do you ever feel pain?” he mumbled. “In your chest?”

“When a portal opens and I’m near enough, yes.”

He nodded. “I feel that too, but…I’m speaking of a much stronger, sharper pain. I sometimes experience it in relation to the young lord.”

“Come, it is cold,” Ryoko-san said, grabbing him by the arm and tugging him back to the door. Sho allowed himself to be pulled back inside. Ryoko-san took her Light Staff, and together they walked until they could no longer hear the celebratory sounds in the reception hall.

She brought him to a quiet alcove, resting her staff against the wall and placing her cold hands on his shoulders. She was looking into his face, eyes concerned.

“Tell me about this pain. Tell me everything, and I will listen.”

He felt intense relief, unburdening himself. Things he could not tell his parents. Things he could not tell Jun. What he had felt in Ama-no-Iwato, the way his sun brand had glowed when Jun had touched the sacred mirror, the strange way his body had reacted at the taste of Jun’s blood. The pain that he felt when it seemed as though Jun might be in danger. He recalled the day before their Bonding as well, how his chest had ached when he’d first laid his eyes upon Jun, how he had kept Jun from slipping into the stream during their hike.

“He and I…we hadn’t even been Bonded at that point. I assumed it was merely the Lady making her wishes known, that she wished for the Bonding to happen. But I’d never heard of anything like it…I’ve thought all this time, in the back of my mind, that perhaps I am unworthy of the task she’s given me. That I will not be able to protect him, not as well as someone else could.”

Ryoko-san rubbed his arms, trying to encourage him. “I have felt pain before, as you’ve described. I felt it when Lady Haruna was stolen away. I felt drawn to save and protect her…as you may know, I failed…”

Sho looked down.

“Sakurai-san…I’m sorry, but that was the only time. I spoke of it with my family, with others from our island that I’ve met in my travels. I’m so sorry, but I’ve never heard of the pain you’ve described. Nor have I heard of such things as you experienced in Ama-no-Iwato. The glowing brand or the reaction to the blood.” Her grip on him strengthened. “But do not assume that means anything bad. In fact, it may mean the opposite. The Lady has spoken to you. The Lady has chosen you for something, that much seems clear.”

“Do you think…do you think perhaps it is because of the path Lady Rinko and the young lord have taken? Is she warning me?”

“I don’t know, because Lady Rinko is just as passionate about the alchemy as her brother. And not once have I felt this pain in service to her, even though she and I have been close to Shadows before. I have protected her from portals and Shadows all across Kaido and the northern islands. So based on what you’ve told me and based on my own experience, I think something else is going on here.”

Sho’s heart began to race. “Do you think Jun is in danger? Some sort of grave danger?”

Ryoko frowned. “I…I can’t begin to guess at the Lady’s motives. She guides us in her own way, but her mysteries are rarely revealed to us. I’m sorry that I have no answers for you.”

He shut his eyes, terrified. If even another person from Isejima, someone in the same circumstances, could not guess at what was wrong with him, then how the hell was he going to be able to protect Jun?

Her hand touched his face, stroking gently. “Sho-san. I understand your fear, more than you realize. It is okay to be afraid. But you cannot let it consume you. If Lady Rinko is here, then so am I. See me anytime. I will listen.”

“Thank you…”

“If I was in your place, I would trust that pain,” she said, reclaiming her staff and moving away from him. “Listen to it, let it guide you, even if it doesn’t make sense. Keep the young lord safe.”

He nodded, placing his hand to his heart. She mirrored the action, and they bowed their heads to one another. “May her light shine upon you, Ryoko-san.”

“May it shine upon you always, Sho-san.”

—

For the next several nights, Lady Rinko was shut up in the war rooms with Lord Hideo and his generals, making plans for the long Kaido winter. In addition to protecting the people from the Dark Lord’s Shadows, much effort had to be made to ensure that infrastructure was maintained, that trade routes were protected from the ice and cold, that food and supplies could reach even the farthest settlements on the island.

Sho was introduced to Matsuoka-san, the alchemist. In his travels with Lady Rinko, he’d watched light magic users of Isejima in action, just as Aiba and Jun had watched Sho here in the lab. He was a tall, athletic man, not the typical alchemist Sho would have expected. He was lively and jovial as Aiba was, even though his life’s work was a direct betrayal of the world the Lady had created for them.

Despite Jun’s worries about having insufficient results to show, Matsuoka praised the young lord for his ingenuity, for his creativity. Matsuoka was keen to elaborate on Jun’s idea for a hand bomb, for a way to trigger a reaction in the materials only on the battlefield against the Shadows, a way for the light to strike only when needed and not when the bombs were being transported or constructed. They still didn’t have a viable formula, but Matsuoka was thoroughly excited about working together with Aiba to continue development.

Sho mostly hung back, seeing the thrill in Jun’s face as he learned how helpful he’d actually been, even if their overall project remained stalled. Sho felt warm, seeing that all of Jun’s efforts had not been a waste of time. Much as Sho was still conflicted over the project’s aims, seeing Jun happy made him happy in return.

It was a feeling that just made things all the more challenging. His duty was to protect Jun. But his mind, his heart…they were starting to betray him. Selfish thoughts of being with Jun, together with him alone…it would be a distraction from what he was here to do, to serve as his Light Guardian. How could a man balance both of these things?

But still, he could not ignore the smiles Jun sometimes gave him, the looks that passed between them in the lab when Matsuoka and Aiba were discussing some incomprehensible formula or another. Jun had no more secrets from him. Despite Sho’s stubbornness and rigid faith, it seemed that Jun had come to care about him, no matter that Sho’s purpose was only to serve him.

Even though Jun had no more secrets, Sho still had not told him about the things he had told Ryoko-san. It would just cause more problems. It might push Jun even harder down his blasphemous path. He might see the goddess’ painful warnings to Sho as encouragement, that the decisions he and his sister were making were right. If what Jun was doing pissed off Amaterasu, then it was the right thing to do.

Since Jun’s sister could not join them in the lab, Jun reported to her privately, Matsuoka on other occasions with more detail. Lady Rinko was just as impatient as her brother. In a few weeks she would be heading north on a peaceful resupply mission to Kaido’s rural Nemuro Province, which had been hard hit by Shadows in the last year. Portals opened there more than anywhere else in Kaido. She wanted to leave for Nemuro with a prototype to test, just in case any portals opened while she was there.

It was another few days before the plans for Nemuro Province changed in a way that made Sho’s chest start to burn.

For the first time since that night at the party, Sho was in bed when the door adjoining his chamber to Jun’s was tugged open. “Sho-san, I need you. Come with me,” Jun said, voice nearly vibrating in excitement from the doorway. 

“Do I have to go in there?” he complained, voice tired to match the rest of him. “I’m not in the mood to be groped by your drunken friends.”

“No, my sister is here. Come on.”

Sho was startled by that, stumbling his way out of bed and making his way through the various rooms until he arrived in Jun’s sitting room. For the first time, he was able to see Matsumoto Rinko up close, seated on Jun’s sofa with a rather serious-looking Ryoko-san beside her. Aiba and Matsuoka were also in attendance. But there were no guards, no one else. 

“Sakurai-san,” Lady Rinko announced in a commanding nasal voice that was reminiscent of her brother’s. However, despite her young age, she was possessed of a maturity her brother lacked. “Please have a seat, as this concerns you as well.”

Sho sat down beside Aiba on one of the sofas, seeing sheer excitement in his face. Comparing the eagerness on his face and Jun’s to Ryoko-san’s, Sho knew this wasn’t going to be anything he wanted to hear.

“My brother has come of age,” Lady Rinko said to the room. “And it’s about time that he starts doing some good for Kaido.”

“You sound like Father, Rin-chan,” Jun grumbled, pouring sake for everyone as though this was another of his silly gatherings.

“As I should, because I had to sound just like him in order to get him to agree. When I depart for Nemuro Province in two weeks, my brother will be joining me. He will assist in the supply distribution effort. Though he will not rule the clan in the future, it is still his duty to help the people. I’ve convinced our father that this excursion will teach him discipline. And respect.”

“Would have loved to have seen his face when you said that,” Jun said, distributing cups.

“Since we’ll be gone for a few weeks, I didn’t want our work to be halted in the meantime. Which is why Matsuoka-san and Aiba-kun are also joining us. You will be a mobile laboratory, so that we might be able to finalize a prototype by the time we reach Nemuro. If any portals open while we’re there, it will be the perfect proving ground for what we’ve designed.” Rinko turned to her Light Guardian. “And if efforts fail, we will have Ryoko-san and Sakurai-san to aid us.”

Sho didn’t like the sound of this, fingers tightening in the fabric of his trousers. He met Ryoko-san’s eyes. She knew the pain he had described to her several days ago. She knew that the Lady was sending him yet another warning. But there was nothing to be done of course. It was Sho’s duty and Ryoko’s duty to serve these ambitious siblings, to protect them as best they could.

“We’ve had some luck today,” Matsuoka said, looking pleased. “We’ve been able to sustain a flash with a new formula. I think with a few weeks of testing, even on the road, that we may soon have something workable using the design Lord Jun envisioned.”

Jun had a long sip from his cup. “Ugh, Nemuro. It’s going to be damn cold.”

“A bit of suffering builds character, little brother,” Rinko teased him, earning laughs from everyone but the Light Guardians. 

And so they would lie. Lord Hideo would let his children travel for peacekeeping purposes, thinking that his perfect daughter was whipping the disobedient son into shape. But it was all a cover for their dangerous mission. Everyone sounded so excited, so sure that the journey to Nemuro would be a great way to test out something still so perilous, so unproven. And with only two light magic users to protect them?

Ryoko-san seemed to have the same concern. “Would it not be more sensible to bring a few contracted light magic users along? In case a portal does open during our journey?”

Rinko shook her head. “The Kaidogawa is frozen now, and travel is more challenging than ever. All contracted magic users in our employ have already been posted strategically across the island so they can best respond to local incidents. Pulling any of them off duty would leave innocent people at risk.” Rinko turned, looking at Sho with her curious eyes. “My brother has spoken of your growing strength, Sakurai-san. Wouldn’t you like the opportunity to finally use it?”

He shrunk back a little in his seat. He’d still never done more than aim at targets, at the open sea…at a candle in Lady Asami’s hand. He thought about Hakata, the way the light magic users had fought back hard against the Shadows. Could he do the same? But then again, how would he ever know if he stayed shut up in the castle for the rest of his days?

“Ryoko-san will be there if you get stage fright,” Jun teased him. “And who knows, perhaps our alchemists will find the answer we’ve been seeking, and we won’t even need you.”

Before Sho could protest, Lady Rinko got to her feet. “Then it’s settled. We leave in two weeks. I will work with Matsuoka-san to ensure that anything that needs to be transported in the sleighs with us will be well-protected. Little brother, I trust you will not pack more than is necessary…”

“I will do my best, although you know father will have expectations, and I’d hate to disappoint him by behaving myself…”

The siblings chuckled, and everyone got to their feet, finishing the sake Jun had poured them and departing the chamber. Ryoko-san inclined her head to Jun, meeting Sho’s eyes one last time before following Lady Rinko out.

Then they were alone.

“I don’t like this,” Sho muttered.

Jun laughed. “Color me shocked.”

Sho looked away, feeling the unpleasant burn. It wasn’t a sharp pain, but a lingering throb. He supposed it would be with him until they had gone to Nemuro and back. Hopefully no portals would open. Hopefully they’d have no need for any weapons that Matsuoka and Aiba developed.

“You like to travel, Sho-san, I thought you might be excited for the opportunity.” Sho felt Jun come to stand beside him. “Perhaps we could even see the Sky Lights.”

“If a portal opens…” He shook his head. “I’ve never…you know I’ve never…”

“I’ve seen what you can do. Since we’ve been Bonded, you’ve only grown stronger,” Jun said, trying to encourage him. “Whether that’s your Lady’s blessing or just a result of being Bonded to someone as amazing as me…”

“Don’t be so flippant about this,” Sho chided him, meeting Jun’s eyes, staring him down. “If something happens, my duty is to protect you. Not Aiba-kun or Matsuoka-san. Not your sister. Not any of the guards your father sends with us. You.”

Jun smiled. “That’s a limited interpretation. As expected of the Lady’s most faithful servant. Sho-san, you know that I can order you to protect anyone, and it’s your duty to obey me.” 

What went unsaid was that that kind of behavior was what had caused the death of his own mother.

“And what if I can’t even protect you, my lord? Why are you being so reckless? Why is your sister being so reckless?”

Jun’s expression softened a little. “Why do you doubt yourself? You’re so much stronger than you think.”

Sho shook his head, turning away from him. “I’ve never been strong…I always thought…” He chuckled bitterly. “My family’s legacy is incredible. I was nothing but a disappointment. I grew accustomed to the pity in my mother’s eyes, the heartbreak in my father’s…”

“But I saw you on the Lucky 7. I saw what you’re capable of. And in Ama-no-Iwato, perhaps I saw your real potential, even though it terrified me.” Sho’s chest ached when Jun moved, grabbing hold of him, his fingers grasping at Sho’s chin, forcing their eyes to meet again. “Sho-san. I trust that you will protect me. My faith in Amaterasu may be lacking. But my faith in you is not.”

He couldn’t bear it, the way he felt torn back and forth. Wanting to protect Jun, the heavy pain in his chest that came with duty. Wanting to belong to him, a different feeling entirely. A lightness that he selfishly longed for with each day that passed. Wondering how he could ever reconcile his promise to the goddess with his growing desires.

“I should go,” Sho whispered. “If this journey is to truly happen, then you and I will both need rest.”

He could see disappointment in Jun’s eyes, but he released Sho anyway. He’d only have to give the order and Sho would stay. They both knew it. Things would only become more difficult between them, Sho was certain of it. Perhaps Jun was just as worried about that as he was.

“Good night, Sho-san. Rest well.”

“Good night, my lord.”

—

Sho was summoned to Lord Hideo’s audience chamber three days before they were set to depart for Nemuro.

It had been weeks since he had spoken directly with Jun’s father, and despite the kindness the head of the clan had shown him during their travels north and the comfortable accommodations provided to him, they lived very separate lives here. Standing before him felt like standing before a stranger.

The audience chamber was small, warm from the glowing braziers in the corner. The smoke stung his eyes a little, but he decided it was best to appreciate the warmth while he still could. The journey to Nemuro would be far worse to deal with than the castle.

He was encouraged to kneel on the floor while the lord’s advisors updated him on some matter or another. Sho felt much as he had whenever he was in his father’s receiving hall, made to wait until he was addressed. Finally, Lord Hideo ordered the advisors to leave them for a short while. The room emptied, and then it was just the two of them.

“I’ve sent word to your parents on Isejima. I don’t know if my letter will reach them before you leave, but I wanted to inform them that you are accompanying Jun to Nemuro.”

He inclined his head. “That is kind of you, my lord.”

“I think they hoped that you would stay here inside these walls for as long as possible. But you are both adults, and I feel that sequestering you any longer would be a mistake.” He watched Lord Hideo stroke his beard. “My Rinko seems to believe that this journey will benefit him, to perhaps awaken in him a sense of duty.”

Sho said nothing.

“She has always had more faith in the boy than I have, but you must understand…the loss of his mother was something he could never shake. I didn’t know what to do with him, how to answer the questions he posed. The boy blamed himself, and nothing I said could dissuade him. So I let him run wild, let him act as he pleased because I…in a way, I thought that might allow him to heal. To eventually accept that what happened to his mother was not his fault but the Dark Lord’s alone. To forgive himself. But because of that choice, I failed to raise him right. I should have taught him to be strong, to put duty first as your people have always done.”

It was hard not to say anything. He wanted to reassure Lord Hideo that Jun was a better person than he could have imagined. That no matter his beliefs, his heart was in the right place.

“It is good, then, that he will travel with Rinko. See what she does to protect our people in my stead. He has always respected her even if he has none left for me,” Lord Hideo said. “Sho-kun, I know this was not how you expected to live. Someone of your lineage is wasted inside these walls, and I know it. But if Rinko is able to have a positive influence on Jun, then I think your own life here will improve. You won’t be forced to sit in your room while my son hosts his frivolous parties for the equally aimless children of my courtiers. Perhaps he will finally grow up.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“He will be troublesome for you, on the journey to Nemuro. As I know he has been troublesome for you from the start. Even so, I thank you for the loyalty you have showed him and our clan.”

He lowered his head, thinking of his own complicity in Jun’s schemes. “I will protect him. You have my word.”

Lord Hideo sighed. “Your parents are fortunate to have a son such as you.”

Sho turned red. Didn’t Lord Hideo remember that Sho had been a runaway? A wandering son for two years? “Thank you, my lord.”

“Safe journey to you. May her light guide you every moment.”

“May her light be with all of Kaido in the long winter to come,” he replied before Lord Hideo dismissed him.

He wandered the halls in a daze, wondering if he should have said something. But no, he could not betray Jun, Lady Rinko, or the alchemists. The mission would go forward as planned.

He eventually made his way to the lab, finding Jun working hard as ever, jotting down notes as the experiments continued. Matsuoka and Aiba showed off their latest achievement. They combined a handful of ingredients, and the resulting flash was fairly close to the intensity of Sho’s own light. They’d flung a pinch of the mixed ingredients at one of the targets in the lab, scorching it thoroughly. It seemed the components would work. Now the challenge turned to volume. How much of the ingredients could they safely combine? How large of a reaction could they create on the battlefield? And how might it be transported?

He stayed with them for hours before walking back with Jun after midnight.

“Your father summoned me today.”

“Is that so?” Jun replied quietly, the two of them lingering outside of his chambers.

“He asked me to watch out for you.”

“Anything else?”

Sho thought of the young boy Lord Hideo had described, a guilty son who blamed himself for the death of his own mother. A mere child. Sometimes he thought he could still see that child, that innocence, in Jun’s brown eyes. Everything Jun did now was to ensure that no one else would have to experience what he had.

“No, nothing else really. He sent a letter to my parents telling them we would be traveling together, that’s all.”

“I see,” Jun said, yawning after the long hours consumed with alchemical reactions. “And you didn’t rat us out?”

Sho looked at him sternly. “No.”

“You wouldn’t lie to me?”

“Of course not. Don’t be paranoid.”

Jun grinned. “You’re cute when you get all indignant.”

“Then I must be cute all the time,” he shot back, knowing he was turning red.

This earned him a flash of teeth, a soft laugh. “I’m having a going-away celebration tomorrow. I hope you’ll come.”

“Will the usual suspects be there?”

“But of course. They all need to think I’m being forced against my will to be a decent human being. Show up with that grumpy face of yours, and it will be all the more believable.”

“Good night, my lord,” he huffed, walking away. He let Jun’s amused laughter follow him to his door.

—

Just as Jun had promised, the party the following night was wilder than the last one Sho had attended. Lord Hideo had apparently indulged his son’s whims for once, as the entire wing of the castle that housed Jun’s chambers had been turned over for Jun’s “farewell for now” celebration.

More sycophantic courtiers than ever had arrived to take in the free food and drink, to try and curry favor with Jun. Perhaps he could put in a good word for them with his sister, if the two of them would be traveling for weeks together. 

Jun had apparently made it clear that Sho was not available for any “magical demonstrations,” as he needed to conserve his energy for any portals that might open on the journey to Nemuro. It was the truth, but Jun managed to convey that to his guests in a way that still seemed to be nothing but a tease.

There were drummers and shamisen players, a scantily-clad woman plucking at a koto and women dancing with fans. The halls and corridors were hot, crowded, the opposite of the winter chill outside. Sho contented himself at the buffet tables, knowing that they’d be eating preserved food in tins rather than delicacies on their journey, only foods that would survive in the frozen air. 

It seemed that Jun’s chambers and any adjacent space had been given over to playfulness. Sho did his best to avoid it, hearing giggles and gasps coming from behind various screens. There were men and women all over the young lord tonight, and he’d set up a grand court at the end of the hall near Sho’s chamber door. A sofa had been dragged over, and there were fawning friends and strangers alike draped all around him. 

“Don’t go, we’ll have no fun without you,” he heard them say, and Jun played his usual role to perfection. He stroked faces, pinched skin, gave kisses or accepted them. His cheeks were pink from alcohol, from the lustful advances of all of his admirers. Deep down, Sho knew that Jun liked all of the attention, even if it was merely an act to keep his father in the dark.

As the hours passed and the alcohol flowed, Sho had trouble keeping his feelings at bay. People tried to make small talk with him, thinking that Sho’s connection to Jun might be a connection to Lady Rinko. They wanted all sorts of pointless things. For Lady Rinko to intervene in a petty dispute, for someone’s brother to be named to the Clan Matsumoto honor guard. He stood there, drink in hand, letting the words of these pathetic strangers go in one ear and out the other, his eyes drawn only to Jun, to the unworthy hands and lips upon him.

Jealousy made him grouchy. Jealousy made him drink. Soon they’d be on the road, none of these useless people with them. But in the moment, it seemed far away. That this night would go on forever, and he’d have to watch Jun’s gorgeous lips wander across even more faces and necks and arms that weren’t his. It all meant nothing. But that didn’t make it any easier to watch.

Lady Asami and Toma attempted to “rescue” Sho a few times, but only so that he might follow them to other places for a little fun. He turned them both down and also rejected a few other “friends” of Jun, finally having enough in the wee hours of the morning.

With his own door blocked, he had to take an alternate path. He moved through Jun’s sitting room, sobering up as he deliberately looked away from what was happening behind screens, stepping over people who’d fallen asleep on sofas or the floor. He passed through the other rooms, finding fewer and fewer people before finally he reached the door that adjoined their rooms. 

He pulled the door closed behind him, exhaling in relief to finally be away from all the nonsense.

Sho was just undoing the sash at his waist when he heard a familiar voice from behind the summer screen. “I can’t even see you and I can just imagine how angry you look.”

Jun’s joke was followed by the sound of piss arriving in Sho’s chamber pot, accompanied by a sigh of contentment.

He shut his eyes in irritation. In the few minutes it had taken Sho to climb over sleeping people, Jun had simply entered his room without asking through the main door.

“Can’t you relieve yourself in your own luxurious bathroom?”

“Ahhhh,” Jun was murmuring, still doing his business. 

“Is the party over?” Sho eventually asked, giving up on getting undressed in favor of sitting on the bed. 

“Well, they may carry on without me. Most of them are so intoxicated now they’ll pass out where they are or run along with someone they’ll regret waking up beside in the morning.” He then heard Jun’s snorting laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

He heard Jun rinsing his hands in the basin, then the sounds of him disrobing before he finally appeared from behind the screen, moving to sit in Sho’s desk chair in only the thin violet robe he’d worn under his kimono. 

“I imagined a regretful Sakurai Sho waking up beside someone he didn’t like in the morning. It amused me terribly.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Happy to be of service.”

“‘Lady of Heaven,’ you’d say, ‘how’d you allow this to happen’?” Jun wheezed, slapping his knee.

“Ha ha.”

“Has that ever happened to you, Sho-san?” Jun asked, eyes swimming and expression cheerful. “Any morning-after regrets?”

“Perhaps.”

“Ah, come now,” Jun said, his voice louder than Sho liked. “You were away from Isejima a few years, I’m sure you were wild. It explains why you’re always so grumpy now. Serving me has ripped you away from all that fun you were probably having.”

“Not that it’s any business of yours.” He sighed. “But maybe there were a few…bad choices made.”

Jun smiled widely. “A bad choice? Sakurai Sho? Do my ears deceive me?”

“I’d like to rest now, my lord. Good night.”

Jun got up from the desk. “I’ll stay in here.”

Sho shook his head. “And where shall I stay? Shall I sleep on the floor like your dog?”

“We’ll share. There’s no way someone hasn’t vomited or had sex in my own bed tonight, so I have no intention of returning there.” Jun came over to him, loosening the thin robe he was wearing. “What’s the big deal?”

“My lord, that would be inappropriate.”

Jun stood before him, looking down at him. A few strands of hair had come loose from the knot he’d tied, drawing Sho’s attention. He looked up, nervous.

“Sho-san, you were watching me all night. You thought I wouldn’t notice?”

“I wasn’t watching you.”

Jun nudged him with his slippered foot. “You’re a poor liar.”

“How could you have possibly noticed me when you had half a dozen hands inside your clothes tonight?”

The look in Jun’s eyes now…Sho could only see one thing: triumph.

“Must we keep dancing around this?” Jun asked. “I’m getting impatient with you.”

“Dancing around what?”

Before he could react or protest, Jun had leaned down, his breath hot against Sho’s ear. He was suddenly so close. His eyes fluttered closed when he felt the scrape of Jun’s teeth against his earlobe. Certainly a well-practiced move.

“Come now, Sho-san. We’ve tasted each other’s blood, what’s one more bit of intimacy going to hurt?”

“Not like this,” he mumbled. “We’ve had too much to drink.”

“I’m quite in charge of myself at present, since I haven’t had anything in a few hours. As you said, I was a bit busy, what with all the hands inside my clothes…”

“Stop…”

“Stop what…stop making you jealous? Or stop wanting to kiss you?”

“My lord…”

“In a few days, we’ll be freezing our balls off, bumping over snow and ice in a sleigh. I won’t have another opportunity to be near you for weeks, not like this anyway…”

Jun’s open admission was making his heart race. Jun wanted him. How could he say no? Jun started pressing soft, needy kisses against his ear, against the side of his face. He wouldn’t be able to bear much more of this.

“My duty is to protect you, Jun.”

He heard Jun’s sharp intake of breath. Sho had called him by only his name. But Jun, resilient as ever, recovered quickly.

“There’s more to you than your duty, Sho. There’s so much more than that.”

He finally gave in, hearing his own name spoken alone. He scooted back, heard Jun’s slippers drop on the floor. He moved onto his back, moving until he was in the center of the mattress. He felt the dip as Jun’s weight joined his, tried to keep breathing as he felt Jun move atop him, straddling him, stroking his long fingers along his robe. Surely there were no surprises now. With where Jun had seated himself, he surely had the answer to the question he hadn’t asked: don’t you want me too?

He looked up, unable to look away from Jun’s face, from the now familiar shape of his mouth, the sharpness of his cheekbones, the dark depths of his eyes. Sho let Jun untie his clothes, let him pull his robe open. Compared to the hallways, Sho’s room was chilly, and he soon found himself covered in goosebumps, shivering yet full of need.

Instead of kissing his lips first, Sho watched Jun’s mouth move to his chest, dark hair obscuring his destination. But Sho knew what was happening. He could feel it, hot breath and then the soft brush of those perfect lips against the brand on his chest. Jun was kissing the red sun, tracing along it, listening to the soft gasps Sho gave in reply.

He could feel the tickle of Jun’s hair against his skin, eyes closing now, unsure what to do. He wanted this. He wanted Jun more than anyone he’d ever been with. Jun’s lips moved up, along his collarbone, a wet trail dragging up his neck. This was probably a bad idea all around, but there’d be time for regrets later.

“Come here,” he demanded, voice rough when he could take no more of Jun’s teasing.

Without protest, Jun obeyed him, moving so that their lips finally met for the first time. He sighed, realizing what he’d been missing all these weeks, all these hours given over to duty, to nothing but the pledges he’d made. Sho moved, letting Jun lie more comfortably between his thighs. Jun deepened their kiss, demanding more. And Sho allowed it, encouraged it, wrapping his arms around Jun, keeping him close. Keeping him safe and not wanting to let go.

The burn came upon him slowly, different from their time in Ama-no-Iwato. But it arrived, radiating with a sudden rush, speeding through his veins, warming his limbs and urging him on. He grabbed hold of Jun, one hand on his back, one tightening in his hair. 

He turned them roughly, hearing a pleased moan of encouragement as Sho trapped Jun beneath him. As they kissed, he could hear a roaring in his mind, an all-consuming urge. He didn’t know if it was the Lady’s wish or his own. But it was telling him who he wanted, how badly he wanted him. Mine to protect. Mine to possess. They returned, those needy words, taking him over. But this time Jun wasn’t afraid. And neither was Sho. That made all the difference.

Mine to protect. Mine to possess.

No, Sho thought. He’d misunderstood. He’d misinterpreted, back on Isejima.

Mine to protect, he thought, kissing his way down Jun’s body. Mine to protect. And mine to adore.

Mine to _adore_.

—

The route had been planned nearly to the minute, timing their stops so that the horses who drew the sleighs could be quartered indoors at farms, at stables along the way.

It had been a week already and it would be another week still until they reached Nemuro Town in the center of the province. They were hosted by local families, the group of them quartered in root cellars or in spare rooms. The only women, Lady Rinko and Ryoko-san, received better accommodations while the men were quartered together, huddling each night for warmth.

In addition to the Matsumoto siblings, their Light Guardians, and the two alchemists, there were six honor guards and the drivers for the three massive sleighs that held their belongings. Four horses to pull each. Two sleighs holding supplies for the towns of Nemuro Province, the third holding the group’s belongings and food. And in a few sacks disguised as mushrooms, the components of what Aiba liked to call ‘the light bomb.’

There’d been no time to speak thoughtfully about what had happened in Sho’s room back at the castle. He’d woken up to find Jun gone the morning after, the scent of him still mingled with Sho’s in the bedsheets. But though they’d had no time to speak of it, Sho had no regrets. And it appeared that Jun didn’t have any either. 

When he wasn’t complaining about the cold or huddled somewhere with Aiba discussing the weapon, he was watching Sho. Staring at his mouth, desperate to continue where they’d left off. But there’d be no time for that on this journey, no opportunity to steal away from the others. It was too dangerous. But he supposed that would just make things even better when they returned to Matsumoto Castle, when they could finally find a way to be alone again. When they could explore this new and exciting relationship between them.

But for now, the crab cream croquettes and plum wine were scores of kilometers behind them. In their place were the sour milk of the local cows, tinned sardines, and pickled vegetables. The dried meat they’d packed would help to sustain them for the return journey from Nemuro Town. Lady Rinko was strict with rationing, and no amount of Jun’s whining would dissuade her.

Sho thought he had been cold at sea or on the balcony of Matsumoto Castle. That was nothing compared to traveling in the open sleigh all day, wrapped in thick overcoats and heavy furs. Their heads were kept covered and wrapped up as well, only their eyes visible as the sleighs rushed them over the snow-packed roads. Despite the discomfort, it was beautiful out here. Almost blinding white, snow stretching in every direction. It was so quiet on the open road, only the clomping of the horses’ hooves in their thick shoes, the hiss of the sleigh as it sliced through the snow. 

He’d found a new respect for Matsumoto Rinko, who had been undertaking journeys like these for the last few years. She had a toughness to her that made him feel almost guilty about his lazy days in the castle. From the way her brother watched her as she gave orders, saw to it that the horses were cared to, and still made time to meet quietly with Matsuoka and Aiba, Sho could tell that Jun’s respect for her had grown even more.

Matsuoka had been tinkering with a few different ways for the light bomb to be carried. For now, the ingredients were too volatile to travel together. After testing with Aiba before they’d begun the journey north, they’d decided on a ball design, something into which the ingredients could be combined. The ball would be closed quickly, as the chemical reaction would begin within seconds of the ingredients mixing. The flash would then go off, hopefully a few meters away from the person who’d thrown it. Would it have any effect against a Shadow? None of them knew. And unfortunately, there was only one way to find that out.

With Aiba’s help, Matsuoka was spending their few free hours hammering at forges in the towns they stopped in for the night. Trying to shape a ball from metal, working to develop a hinge that might seal it closed so it could be flung as the ingredients combined. So far nothing seemed safe enough to be handled. The experiments would continue.

They had gathered for the night in a barn. They would stay up in the hay loft while the horses rested below. It would be a stinky, uncomfortable night, but they were staying at a farm, as there were no towns close enough. The family that hosted them, the Nakamuras, had seven children, and their house was already too small for them. Lady Rinko had commandeered the barn, refusing the farmer and his wife’s offers to sleep there instead and let Clan Matsumoto’s heir take their home.

They’d had a quick meal in the house at the wife’s insistence, heading back to sleep. He was on the way to the barn when he felt a tug on his hand. Even with a few pairs of gloves on, the warmth blossoming near his heart revealed it to be Jun, who dragged him out of sight of the guards. They’d have only a moment.

Jun did his best to make the most of it, yanking impatiently at the scarf Sho had tied around his face. Their lips met, a small bit of warmth on an otherwise frigid night. He leaned into it, wishing Jun wasn’t so reckless but knowing that it wouldn’t be Matsumoto Jun if he behaved differently.

“I miss you,” Jun muttered, holding him close. “I miss your constant concern and disapproval.”

“That hasn’t changed,” he whispered, pinching Jun’s side and making him grumble. “I disapprove of this quite a bit.”

Jun kissed him again, longer, until Sho had to push him back. “Oh yes,” Jun said. “Yes, I can taste the disapproval on your tongue every time you slip it inside my mouth.”

Sho looked down, snorting, before pulling the scarf up again. “If you kiss me again, we may stick together. Not something you’d want your sister to find.”

“Or worse, Masaki,” Jun said with a shudder. “I think he suspects and is just looking for a way to embarrass us.”

“Then let’s not give him any cause to…”

“I knew it!” came a voice from around the corner of the barn. “No fair.”

Jun sighed, pulling away as Aiba walked up, kicking up snow. He never made any extra effort to be subtle in his movements. “What’s no fair, Masaki?”

“The only women on this trip are Ryoko-san and your sister, and neither of them have made any moves to kiss me,” Aiba complained, shivering as he huddled close to them. “How am I supposed to stay warm in this rotten place?”

“Don’t call it rotten,” Sho chided him. “We’re receiving the Nakamura family’s hospitality.”

“You could sleep beside the horses,” Jun teased. “Maybe one of them will think you’re a carrot or a sugar cube, give you a nice warm lick.”

“Ugh,” Aiba shuddered.

Jun’s voice was more serious then. “Please don’t tell Rin-chan. Or anyone. Please.”

Aiba shook his head. “Your personal life can stay personal, Matsujun.”

“You have a tendency to gossip.”

“I do not,” Aiba protested. “I won’t tell anyone you’re swapping spit with your own Light Guardian. And I still haven’t told anyone about the alchemy lab. You could be nicer to me, ya know.”

“Perhaps there will be no gossip worth spreading if the guards don’t catch us whispering in the dark together?” Sho hinted, desperate to get back inside the barn.

“You’re right, Sho-chan. Ugh, it’s so cold,” Aiba declared, grabbing him by the arm. “Don’t let your squishy feelings for this guy cause you any permanent damage. Nobody wants a frostbitten dick, especially if you’re together now…”

“Why do I put up with you,” Jun moaned in complaint, stomping around them and heading back for the barn first.

Aiba walked back with Sho, nudging him gently. “Believe it or not, I’m happy for you.”

“He’s the son of a lord, Aiba-kun. The member of a Council of Five family, even if he’s not the heir. That means something in the Stormlands,” Sho mumbled. “It won’t go anywhere, can’t go anywhere. Whatever happens in the future, I still have to serve him. Even if he, you know, even if a marriage is arranged…”

“Don’t worry about that. Why are you so worried about that already?” Aiba reassured him. “Matsujun excels when it comes to defying his father’s expectations. This is a harsh world. If you find happiness, I say cling to it. Or hump it, whatever you guys get up to when I’m not around…”

Sho groaned, laughing despite himself. He knew that Aiba would keep things to himself, no matter what Jun thought. “Thank you.”

They walked back to the barn, arm in arm for warmth.

—

It was probably Ryoko-san who felt it first, the sleigh at the front of the caravan coming to such an abrupt halt that the driver of the second sleigh where Sho was seated had to steer the horses off the road, almost into a mound of snow.

“What’s happening?” Jun asked, the two honor guards riding with them getting to their feet, surveying the situation.

But then Sho felt it, that pain. Combined with the horrible wind that was blowing through the open fields, Sho could feel his limbs almost locking up. It was excruciating, but he took his Light Staff in hand, forcing himself to stand on shaky feet.

“Sho, what’s wrong?” Jun asked, voice low and terrified.

“To the left, near the trees! The shimmer!” Lady Rinko cried.

Sho’s nightmare come to life. He felt Jun rise, standing behind him. Ryoko-san was already off of the sleigh, Light Staff before her. Jun’s sister had drawn one of her blades, seemingly out of instinct rather than because it would be effective.

“There,” Sho said. “Do you see it?”

He gestured, seeing the portal that had opened in the distance. Sho’s stomach dropped in fear as he saw the crisp white snow already being stained with meandering threads of black. Shadows, coming through the portal in search of the blood of Amaterasu’s faithful. They were about twenty kilometers from Nemuro Town. It might take the Shadows a few hours to find their way there. 

Lady Rinko had other ideas. She turned, looking to the third sleigh. “Matsuoka-san, do you have anything for me?”

“No,” he called out. “No, it’s not ready, my lady. I’d advise you to let the folks from Isejima handle this before it spreads too close to the town.”

Jun’s sister looked instantly annoyed, a look Sho knew all too well. “We have the ingredients. All we need to do is throw them.”

“The reaction…we still aren’t certain about the stability, my lady,” Aiba interrupted. “You shouldn’t just…throw them.”

Lady Rinko removed the helmet from her head. “Jun, with me. Matsuoka, get me those ingredients.”

Ryoko-san shook her head, holding out her staff. “My lady, this is unwise. We are exposed like this, and they will sniff us out.”

“You will be with us,” Rinko said. “If we can’t even test the viability of the compound itself, then what is the point in trying to find a structure to contain it? Jun will hold half, I will hold the other in my helmet. We’ll keep the two most volatile ingredients from reacting until we get closer. He’ll pour it into the helmet, and I throw the helmet. This isn’t that difficult.”

“I don’t like this, my lady,” one of the guardsmen said. “Allow me to perform this…experiment on your behalf.”

The other guards were looking at each other in confusion. It seemed that Lady Rinko had kept her true plans from all but one of them. She obviously hadn’t expected to be given an opportunity before reaching Nemuro.

“Let Sho-san and I work together to fight them back, to seal the portal,” Ryoko-san pleaded with her. “I’m certain there will be other opportunities…”

“The Dark Lord doesn’t think in terms of ‘opportunities,’” Rinko cried, sheathing her sword. “The Dark Lord thinks only in terms of destruction. Jun, get what you need from Matsuoka-san.”

Sho turned, saw that Rinko’s gutsy declaration had done a good job convincing her younger brother. “Jun,” he muttered. “Don’t be so foolish…”

“She’s right,” Jun insisted. “They’re still far off. We’re the only humans around. We can take them.”

Sho tried to grab Jun’s arm but he was too fast, getting off of the sleigh and following his sister to the sleigh in the rear with the sacks of “mushrooms.” Sho felt the pain in his chest throb all the more, and he had little choice but to depart the sleigh and follow Jun. The two honor guards did the same, though they wouldn’t be much help.

Matsuoka and Aiba looked reluctant to comply, but they opened the bags, breath visible in the cold winter air as they dug around for the correct jars. Sho didn’t know all the ingredients by name, he knew them only as Half 1 and Half 2, ingredients that were harmless apart but would react together in seconds once combined. 

Sho watched Lady Rinko open the Half 1 jar, pouring a large amount into her helmet. “Perhaps…perhaps we ought to start smaller, my lady,” Aiba tried to interject. In response, Rinko emptied the entire jar.

Matsuoka looked nervous as he put the Half 2 jar into Jun’s mittened hands. “It has to be the whole jar then, Lord Jun. It has to be equal parts or the reaction will not be effective.”

“I understand,” Jun said, and Sho was surprised by how unafraid he sounded.

After thirteen years, Matsumoto Jun and his sister Rinko would finally get their revenge plan against the Dark Lord in motion. No matter how risky.

Sho looked to Ryoko. She came close, a hand to his arm. “We should walk in front of them,” Ryoko said quietly.

“This is a bad idea,” Sho muttered, seeing that the dark ribbons slicing through the snow were drawing even closer. Sho had never been this close, not in Hakata. “A bad idea no matter where we walk.”

“It will be alright…”

The burning sensation in Sho’s chest suggested otherwise.

Lady Rinko gave more instructions. “Drivers, keep the horses calm. Drive the sleighs back down the road a few hundred meters if that will help. Guards, you will only attract the Shadows. We do not need to give them any more blood to smell. Stay here and protect Matsuoka-san, Aiba-san, the drivers, horses, and supplies.”

“My lady…” several guardsmen said at once, but she held up a hand for silence.

“You have been given orders.”

“May her light shine upon you,” Aiba called out.

Lady Rinko turned, lips quirking at the offered prayer. She inclined her head in thanks. “May it shine upon us all.” She turned to her brother. “Jun. Let’s go.”

It was a foolish plan from the start. The snow drifts were almost knee-high in some places, slowing their progress considerably. As they kicked up snow, Sho’s pulse grew faster, seeing the black ribbons in the snow start to turn. Instead of their slow progress, they now had a destination in mind.

Their speed doubled in an instant, tripled.

“My lady, fall back. It’s not safe,” Ryoko pleaded. “Let me and Sho-san…”

“They’ll be close in about twenty, thirty seconds.” Rinko held out her helmet. “Jun, you will empty the jar in here on my mark and run back the way you came, as fast as you can. Do you understand me?”

“Yes.”

Sho tried to move faster, the snow holding him back. The siblings had somehow gotten further ahead. He used his staff to propel him forward, hurrying to catch up with them. This wasn’t worth it…it wasn’t…how come they couldn’t see that?

It was then that Ryoko tried to move, going to the side in hopes of luring the Shadows in a different direction. It was a grave error, as Sho watched her sink into a snowpile that came up to her neck. There was a dip in the terrain here, the depth of the snow deceiving. The pain in Sho’s chest nearly sent him to the ground.

“Ryoko-san!”

Rinko turned, and at the sight of her Light Guardian, trapped and struggling to free herself, the heir to Clan Matsumoto seemed to realize her poor judgment at last. She dropped her helmet in the snow, scattering bits of dark powder as she hurried to help her guardian.

Jun stopped moving, holding the jar nervously. He pointed toward Ryoko. “Sho, use your staff. Maybe it can help pull her out…”

“My lord, get back to the sleighs. I’ll take care of this.”

He moved, seeing that Ryoko was finding a way back to solid ground. But when Ryoko had fallen, it seemed that all four of them had forgotten how quickly the Shadows had started to move. Until Sho heard Lady Rinko scream.

Things went horribly wrong in an instant.

“Lady of Heaven!” Ryoko screamed. “Sho-san! Please!”

“Sho!” Jun cried. “Help my sister!”

He whirled, instantly putting his hand to his heart as soon as he saw the Shadow become solid, saw that its dark and filthy coil had the young woman in its grip. It had already knocked her down into the snow. He held out his staff as he’d been commanded, eyes locking on to the coil, doing his best to ignore his terror, ignore Lady Rinko’s horrible screams, to target the Shadow without hurting Jun’s sister.

The light burst from him, melting the snow around him. He’d been successful, thank the Lady. Then he heard shouts. It seemed that the guards near the sleigh had seen their Lady attacked, had ignored her orders and come charging in.

Sho turned. “Wait! Wait, it’s not safe!”

They ran for Lady Rinko, two others helping to lift Ryoko from the snow.

Sho cried out, the pain in his chest dropping him to his knees. He turned, scanning the area, desperately trying not to let the stark whiteness of the snow blind him. And that was when he saw that Jun was marching forward toward the portal, not back the way Sho had told him to go.

“Jun! Stop!” he screamed.

In one hand, Jun had the Half 2 jar. In his other hand, his sister’s helmet.

The Shadows swarmed them, smelling the arrival of the guards as they surrounded Lady Rinko.

“No!” Ryoko cried. “Fall back!”

But Sho mostly heard the voice in his head. Help him. You have to help him. You have to, you have to.

“Jun!” Sho shouted, trying to move after him but the snow was so wet, so heavy. It impeded his progress. “Jun, go back!”

His protests were drowned out by the screams of the honor guards. One, two, three, four…one after another, Sho watched the dark coils wrap around each of the terrified men. There was light then, bright and terrible.

It was Ryoko, shivering from being stuck in the snow, but fighting onward. Beams of light hitting the multiplying coils. She could hold them off. He knew she could.

“Jun,” he muttered to himself. “You have to stop.”

And Jun did stop, but only because a Shadow had broken away from the pack that was attacking Lady Rinko and the guards. It was heading straight for him.

Sho took aim, hand pressed to his heart, the strong beam rocketing across the snowy field and hitting the Shadow straight on before it could reach Jun. It disappeared, the light banishing it out of existence. Sho heard a scream to his right, saw that Ryoko had freed all but one of the guards. The man was being dragged, his body almost covered in dark coils. Sho couldn’t even see who it was.

He took aim, again and again, hurrying closer to the portal. It was maybe a hundred meters in the distance. “Let him go,” he muttered, aiming light at any darkness he could spot, striking back again and again. “Please release him…”

Once the guard was freed, he saw something out of the corner of his eye, chest throbbing. It was Rinko’s helmet. Against all better judgment, Jun had combined the ingredients, had flung the helmet with all his strength, having had no actual Shadow to hit now since Sho had destroyed it. The helmet hit the snow a few meters away from Jun’s current position with a heavy thunk.

The light that exploded from it a moment later sent a massive shockwave across the field. Sho watched it hit Jun first, knocking him back. Then it came for him. Hard.

He was shaken, knocked onto his back. He spat snow out of his mouth, fumbling around for his Light Staff. He couldn’t hear anything but a ringing in his ears, the sounds of shouting in the distance muffled. Lady of Heaven, what a thing to have witnessed.

He turned, breathing heavily, scanning the field. The ribbons of black were starting to retreat. The Shadows were giving up the fight. Matsuoka, Aiba…they’d actually done it…

He could see the other guards getting to their feet, physically dragging a protesting Lady Rinko back toward the sleighs. He could see Ryoko-san hurrying toward him. She was shouting but Sho couldn’t hear her. He’d been too close to the shockwave. Ryoko started to point instead.

The portal. Close the portal.

Sho didn’t know if he could do it, but if he’d been able to destroy Shadows, perhaps with Ryoko’s help they could close it together. He hurried onward, body feeling twice as heavy with all the snow and damp. He passed the guard he’d saved, saw the man lying there shell-shocked but alive. 

He could see Jun stirring in the snow. He was alive. Thank the Lady, he was alive. He started moving toward him, holding his hand to his heart and aiming his light at the portal in the distance. Soon Ryoko was closing in behind him, her light joining his. 

They passed Jun, putting distance between him and the portal in front of them, guarding him. Keeping him safe.

What Sho had missed, what Ryoko had missed, was the ribbon of black that had disappeared into the trees, moving away from the portal in the other direction, working all the way around them. He would later assume that that particular Shadow was intelligent. Very oddly intelligent. It had crept through the forest only to come up from behind.

Sho and Ryoko worked to close the portal. Sho could see the shimmer start to fade. But then the pain returned. The pain returned to Sho and knocked him back almost as hard as the shockwave had. Because he hadn’t been able to hear Jun scream. He hadn’t been able to hear Jun call his name.

Sho’s concentration broke when he saw the black stain fly past, coming up from the field behind him. He saw Jun’s panicked face, the coil tight around his leg as it dragged him toward the portal with a speed Sho didn’t know was possible. Jun’s hands clutched desperately at the snow, having nothing to hold on to.

He aimed his light, screaming, chasing after Jun. Ryoko-san didn’t stop. She kept aiming for the portal while Sho aimed beam after beam after beam at the black coil around Jun, around the others that joined it, wrapping around his body and taking form. With each one that Sho destroyed, three more took its place. 

Sho screamed. He screamed. And he screamed.

He clutched at his chest, held out his Light Staff, and put everything he had into hitting the coils that gripped Jun. The power he unleashed melted the snow for meters around them until the flood of water nearly washed them all away. Blood dripped from his nose as his body neared its limit but still the light exploded from him. It was the strongest light magic he’d ever cast. It was stronger than Ryoko’s. In his heart, he knew it was some of the strongest light magic anyone from Isejima had ever cast. 

And somehow it still wasn’t enough.

Time slowed, and he saw the fear in Jun’s eyes as the Shadows tugged him into the portal. The air seemed to go out of Sho’s lungs all at once - from the sheer power he’d just expended, from the sight of Jun being torn away.

He watched Jun disappear into the shimmer, and then saw his own beams of light join Ryoko’s to seal the portal shut for good.


	2. The Prisoner and the Spy

Part Two  
The Prisoner and The Spy

—

He heard the footsteps approach, heard the jangle of keys at his waist.

“Aniki.”

Sho turned over on his cot, facing away.

“Aniki, you gonna work today?”

Sho stared at the brick wall. “No, Ueda-kun, I don’t think I will.”

The guard sighed, keys making their obnoxious noise. Sho didn’t know why the guy liked him so much. Sho was a real pain in the ass to look after.

“How about a walk in the yard? Fresh air sound good?”

“No. But thank you.”

He heard the toe of Ueda’s boot thump against the meal tray on the floor of his cell. “You ought to eat something. Keep your strength up.”

“Not hungry.”

“We don’t like having to force it down you,” Ueda complained. “I don’t like seeing you like that.”

“Then stop forcing it,” he replied. “Stop bothering.”

“Aniki…”

“Maybe tomorrow,” he relented, stomach rumbling simply to spite him. “Maybe tomorrow, okay?”

“Alright.”

He heard the footsteps disappear, and Sho turned onto his back. That one pesky spring poked him right in the spine. He could have turned the mattress over. Could have told the guard about it, gotten a new one. They weren’t inhumane here. The opposite really, all things considered.

Sakurai Sho was the one inmate in Nakodojima Prison who wasn’t allowed to come to any harm.

It was hot here, down in the south, but it was pretty comfortable in solitary confinement. There weren’t any windows, and it was underground from the main building. The air stayed cool. It never got cold enough, though, never enough to make him feel like he was back on Kaido.

They kept saying they’d cured his melancholy. Put him back among the general population. Gave him a cellmate sometimes, for companionship. For someone to give the guards a break and look after him. The cellmates usually grew annoyed with him, talking and talking and receiving no response. These days, Sho simply didn’t have much to say anymore. 

He behaved himself more often than not. This was a working prison, mostly home to non-violent offenders. Thieves, con artists. For entertainment, they tried to cheat each other at cards. Fights were rare. They received a copper coin for every commissioned item they completed. Mostly they wove baskets, dull repetitive work. Some minor lord on a southern island paid for the labor, shipping the baskets to marketplaces all over the archipelago. When the prisoners were released, they’d be allowed to leave with all the coins they’d earned during their stay so that they could start a new life.

At first, Sho had kept a tally of the baskets he’d made. It had been a way to pass the time, count the days in this boring place. It was better to count the baskets than the coins because there’d never be a day when the doors of Nakodojima Prison would open to set him free. It took Sho about a week to complete a basket. He’d gotten to four hundred and thirteen baskets before he’d broken down at the work table, tearing the basket before him to shreds. 

That had earned him his first trip to solitary confinement. It was normal, the prison healer had said. The tedium could get to anyone here. Reactions like the one he had were completely understandable. Perhaps he should rest, relax. Take a short break before rejoining the rest of the population.

Instead Sho found himself down in the underground cells more than topside of late. They’d tried moving him to other tasks. He’d helped in the kitchen for nearly two years, ladling miso soup into bowls and setting them carefully on trays. “See, he’s doing much better,” they’d declared. “Look at the pride he takes in his duties.”

And again he’d stopped working. Stopped exercising. And with a long enough time underground, the desire to eat started to wane too sometimes.

Even as he misbehaved, even as he caused them trouble, Sho felt guilty about it. He’d been forced to become their problem, as it had been determined that Nakodojima was the furthest place from Kaido that had a prison for non-violent offenders. There were places for murderers, but Lord Hideo hadn’t wanted him there. The old man wanted Sho out of his sight, unable to bear it, but he hadn’t wanted Sho to come to any lasting harm. He’d made a vow on that day long ago, that day on Isejima. 

…so shall Clan Matsumoto swear to protect you, Sakurai Sho. For all the rest of your days.

Lord Hideo’s days had ended about four years back, the older man apparently dying in his sleep. The strong man with the twin swords who’d marched so proudly into the Sakurai family’s receiving hall had died quietly, all the strength having gone out of him years earlier. 

Lady Rinko had made no such vow to Sho. She could have feigned ignorance, dealt with Sho however she saw fit. But here he remained, sleeping on an old mattress, letting a spring poke him in the back. The pain felt kind of good, after so many years experiencing so little of it. Sure, his eyes grew tired as he made his baskets. Sure, he’d probably burned himself a few times in the prison kitchens when he worked in them. 

But the ache in his chest that had once defined him, defined what he thought had been his life’s purpose…that sort of ache had deserted him long ago. What remained was dulled, growing duller still with each year that passed. 

Sho eventually sat up, groaning as his neck cracked, as his joints popped. He shuffled across the tiny floor, bending down to pick up the tray. Noodles and broth, long cold. He ate it anyway, saying a prayer of thanks to the Lady. He was going to set his tray back on the floor when he noticed that a note had been placed beneath it. Perhaps Ueda, the secret softie, had left him some words of encouragement.

Instead, it was a rolled-up letter, flattened by the meal tray and sealed shut with a familiar wax seal. A pine tree and cherry tree, side by side. The Sakurai family of Isejima.

He smiled bitterly. The days came and went so easily that he often forgot. But she always remembered, insisted on getting a letter to him. Lord Hideo had never objected.

He broke the seal on the letter, squinted in the light of the torch beside the wall of his cell.

_To my son as he enters his thirty-seventh year. To Sho._

_Your father has a new hobby: calisthenics. He rises with the dawn every morning, has the servants join him in the yard. He wishes to maintain his strength, even as the arthritis plagues him. He claims that this exercise offers some relief. As for me, there is little to report. I am still enjoying the yield from my herb garden. They have enhanced the flavor of many a meal. Your cousin Nana has come of age and is showing great promise. There are already three minor families from Kyuryu seeking to contract her services._

_Not a day goes by that you aren’t in my thoughts. I pray that you may find comfort. I pray that her light will shine upon you. We all think of you and wish you well._

_With love, your mother_

He read it a few more times, frowning. She had told him about Nana in her last letter. Perhaps she had forgotten. Then again, he was happy to receive anything at all. It reminded him that there was more to the world than the walls of Nakodojima Prison. 

That no matter what, life was carrying on elsewhere.

—

He heard the footsteps approach, heard the jangle of keys at his waist.

“Aniki.”

This time Sho didn’t turn away, staring up at the ceiling.

“Ah, you ate. I’m glad.”

“Guess I found my appetite.”

“I’m glad,” Ueda repeated. “You found the letter that came for you.”

“I did.”

“Anything good?”

“My mother wished me a happy birthday.”

“It’s your birthday?”

“I don’t know, what day is it today?”

“The second month, the thirteenth day.”

Sho smiled. “Then no, it’s not my birthday today. It was the twenty-fifth day of last month.”

“Well. Happy birthday just the same.”

“Thanks, Ueda-kun.”

The guard lifted the tray. “Let me just get this cleaned up, alright?”

“That’s fine.”

He listened to the cell door open, listened to Ueda taking out the tray, taking out his chamber pot and dumping it in the larger receptacle at the end of the hall. Sho had grown accustomed to these little noises, to the scent of Ueda’s cologne and sweat, to the cheerful way Ueda sometimes patted him on the head before returning to his tough guy look.

“How about a bath? Think I can sneak you in when third shift’s done. Water won’t be too warm, but you’ll feel better.”

“Fine.”

Sho let Ueda lead him upstairs later, into the next building where the bath house was. Thankfully, the guard turned away, letting Sho scrub up, rinse off. Ueda got him a small towel for modesty’s sake, and Sho sank down into the large tub, amused by how chilled it was after all the other prisoners had taken their turn for the day. Keeping it heated was not a required expense. The bathing area was mostly to keep them clean, to keep vermin out. Not to provide them with any sort of luxury experience.

He leaned back, shutting his eyes, letting the water turn him into a prune. 

“Hey. Aniki.”

“Yes, Ueda-kun?”

By now the guard was probably in his usual place, leaning back against the wall in a chair. 

“What’s with the mark?”

He frowned. 

“Is it something personal? I’m sorry for prying after all this time…just…you know…trying to chat with you. Warden Inohara says we should talk with you more. I told him to let you go at your own pace, but orders are orders you understand…”

“It’s alright,” Sho said, waving his hand dismissively. “You don’t have to apologize.”

He looked down, feeling his heart clench at the sight of it. Lord Hideo had said, all those years ago, that Clan Matsumoto would protect him. That was why Sho still drew breath. That was why Sho was here when he could have been executed.

But before sending him here, Lord Hideo had ordered something done, something that had seemed unthinkable to anyone who knew anything about the Lady of Heaven’s sacred island, about the chosen people who lived there. He had no power over Ryoko-san, but he did have power over Lady Rinko. So it was Rinko who’d given the actual order to her Light Guardian.

Ryoko-san had cried. Sho hadn’t. He’d simply stood there, mostly limp, held up only by the strength of the honor guards in Lord Hideo’s audience chamber. He’d simply stood there as Ryoko placed her right hand to her heart, her left hand to her Light Staff. It had been just as painful as it had been precise. 

Sho’s red sun, his brand, the blessing given him by Amaterasu at thirteen, had been burnt. That small patch of skin above his heart became nothing but ugly pink scarring. He’d then been forced to watch as his Light Staff was broken in two, the pieces dropped unceremoniously into the Kaidogawa.

When word reached Isejima, they had wanted to protest. Mutilating a light magic user, the Lady of Heaven’s chosen servant, was simply unheard of. Lord Hideo hadn’t done such a thing after Ryoko-san had failed to save his wife. So why was Sho so cruelly punished in this instance? 

Isejima had wanted to pull its light magic users from Kaido, all that were in Lord Hideo’s employ. At least that’s what his mother’s letters had said. After all, Sakurai Sho had saved many lives that day in the snows. He’d put himself in harm’s way. 

But he’d saved all but the life that truly mattered, and for that, Lord Hideo had sought to punish him. And then, in the guise of upholding the vow he’d made, he’d sent Sho away from Kaido to live out the rest of his days in service to the prison.

As far as Sho knew, all of the light magic users that Lord Hideo hired had not left his service. Even after his death, some likely still served the towns and villages of Kaido during their long winters, banishing the darkness. There were still people to protect, Sho understood. Why should innocents suffer because Lord Hideo had justly punished him for his failure?

Sho looked away from the scarring, offering a friendly chuckle. “Just an old burn. It’s nothing.”

“Sorry, aniki.”

It was when Ueda was walking him back to his cell that the pain struck, knocking the wind from him, knocking him to his knees with the intensity of it.

“Hey…hey are you alright?” Ueda was bent over him, voice full of panic.

Sho had tears in his eyes, his whole body shaking. He hadn’t felt this way in fifteen years…

“Aniki…?”

He let Ueda help him back up. The pain subsided. Maybe there was something wrong with him. An untreated health issue. Maybe he should just ask a healer. There was no other reason for such pain to strike him, not now. Not ever again.

“I’m fine…I just.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

“You’re pale,” Ueda commented. “You look ill to me…”

“Maybe I should lie down for a while. Maybe it was too soon to be up and walking around…”

Ueda didn’t seem to buy it, but he had no reason to push the matter any further. He carefully escorted Sho back underground, back into the small cell where he’d spent so many nights of late.

When Ueda was gone, Sho tugged at the mattress, using what limited strength remained to him in order to flip it over. When he lay down, on his back, there was nothing to poke him. 

He brought his hand to his heart, feeling the bumpy, marred flesh. After all this time, why was she speaking to him? And how, with the brand long destroyed? He’d received only silence for the last decade and a half, living in this prison, weaving his baskets and praying to be forgiven. Or to be freed permanently from this half-life, this pitiful existence.

“Lady of Heaven,” he said aloud, voice echoing across the empty expanse of cells. He was solitary’s only occupant. “What is it you want from me?”

She had never made her wishes clear. He had failed the one and only task she’d ever given him, so he supposed it was her prerogative if she wanted to toy with him. Torment him. As if basket weaving for eternity at a table of thieves wasn’t torment enough.

He let fresh tears roll down his cheeks freely, thinking of the pain that had struck him, oddly savoring it. Remembering how accustomed he’d become to it as a constant in his life, serving someone who’d pursued a dangerous path. 

He missed him. He missed him. He missed him.

He turned onto his side, facing the wall, wishing for the pain to visit him again.

—

It did.

A fever took hold of him. The prison healer said it was probably the cold bath, but Sho heard little else, sweating and writhing in his sheets, tormented with nightmares whenever he fell asleep.

He’d had them a few times, in the early days. So many on the long journey south from Kaido, in his first days in a prison cell. In time, they had faded, along with so many happy memories of those few strange months in Matsumoto Castle. When his life had been so different. When he’d fallen in love and lost it soon after.

The fever dreams now were cruel. For the first time in years, Sho could hear his voice. Jun’s voice, calling out to him for help. Sho, of course, had no actual memory of such a thing. When Jun had created the light bomb in his sister’s helmet, it had left a ringing in Sho’s ears. It was why he hadn’t actually heard Jun calling for him until it was too late, begging to be saved as the Shadows dragged him away.

Sho had never heard Jun call for help that final, horrible day. So why was he hearing it in his nightmares now, so crystal clear?

“Sho…help me! Please! Help me!”

He’d wake, sobbing, eyes bleary as the prison healer looked down at him with an almost frightened expression, calling for cool rags, calling for other curatives. He’s burning up. It ought to have killed him by now, the healer said, voice in one of Sho’s ears and out the other. I’ve never seen its like before, the healer said. They’d sedate him, somehow, only for the nightmares to come back when their effects wore off. Again and again, he heard Jun calling his name. Again and again, Sho longed to reach him.

Images flashed. The castle. The beach. The cave. Jun’s warm body under him, their hands intertwining, Jun’s labored breaths in his ear. The stars. The infinite stars.

He was thirty-seven in the prison bed, but twenty-two again in his nightmares, his red sun blazing…calling out in the darkness for the voice he’d know anywhere.

“Jun!” he cried, unable to reach him. “Jun…where are you?”

“Sho…come back to me…”

—

He woke, finding himself in an unfamiliar bed. He smelled a familiar cologne though.

“Ueda-kun,” he murmured, lips and mouth dry.

“Ah, aniki. Welcome back.”

He didn’t open his eyes, merely sighing in relief as he felt Ueda gently lift his head, felt the dribble of cool water enter his mouth.

“Not too much, orders from Kokubun-sensei.”

“Fine.”

“You’re in the prison infirmary. Your fever spiked so high, you ought to be dead.”

Sho laughed, the action a little painful. “But I’m not.”

“No, thank the Lady. You’re not.”

He didn’t want to open his eyes, didn’t want to deal with the light. He missed the cool confines of his solitary cell. “You’re my nursemaid.”

Ueda snorted rudely. “I’m on my lunch break. They said you were finally coming out of it. You really had me worried.”

“Sorry.”

“I told them you looked like you’d been having chest pain, you know, that day when I brought you to the baths, but they didn’t think it was anything bad with your heart or your lungs. Bad fever though.”

“What day is it?”

“You got sick, like, three weeks ago?”

At that, Sho finally cracked an eye open, saw the relief in the guard’s stern face. “I had a fever for three whole weeks?”

“Fever, delirium, seizures…man, aniki, I didn’t think you were gonna make it.”

He let Ueda help him sit up, taking in the plain tan walls of the infirmary, its sterile scent and stale air. “It was terrible.”

“You wanna talk about it? Warden Inohara said…”

Sho laughed. “I remember. I remember what he asked of you.”

“Sorry…”

“I saw a friend. In my nightmares,” Sho admitted quietly. “A friend I lost long ago.”

Ueda shook his head, bringing the cup of water to Sho’s lips again. “Here, have a drink. Wish I could give you something stronger.”

Despite himself, Sho smiled. “I wish you could too.”

Eventually Ueda had to get back to work, and Sho was left in the care of Kokubun-sensei, who had none of Ueda’s bedside manner. He declared repeatedly that he had rescued Sho from the brink of death, that they’d even considered administering an overdose of painkillers to put him out of his misery. Three weeks of suffering, thrashing, and seizures had sapped his strength. 

Kokubun held up one of Sho’s arms to demonstrate. He was shocked by how thin his wrist was, assumed that the rest of him had been equally affected. “You’ve lost a lot of weight. Whatever sickness grabbed hold of you seemed like it was trying to suck the very life from your bones.”

Sho…come back to me…

“Is that your official diagnosis, sensei?” Sho asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kokubun sighed, patting his leg. “Once you’re doing better, I’m going to have you out in the yard every day, gaining your strength back. For now it’s still a liquid diet for you. I want you pissing out every little bit of poison you’ve been plagued with, understand?”

He nodded. “I understand.”

Kokubun finally offered him a smile. “Glad you’re still with us.”

“Baskets aren’t going to make themselves, I suppose.”

“That’s right,” the healer said, getting up and heading back to his office. “Get some rest, okay?”

“Okay.”

—

A few months later, Sho didn’t need Ueda or one of the other guards to walk alongside him in the prison yard. He was no longer a fall risk, had built back most of the muscle in his legs. He was eating well, hadn’t had any further nightmares or seizures. He had finally gained some weight back. He’d been shocked by the sight of himself in a mirror when he’d first been released from the infirmary, how the illness had changed him, leaving his jaw so sharp, his body so frail, his eyes so haunted.

News of Sho’s mystery illness had spread among the other prisoners, so they steered clear of him now. Kokubun had given the okay to return him to a cell a few weeks back, booting him out of the infirmary once he felt the danger had finally passed for good. But putting him with the general population wasn’t advisable. They all worried that whatever had plagued him might be contagious, no matter how much the healer assured them that he wasn’t.

He’d been tossed back in solitary, his preferred residence, so Sho didn’t have too many complaints. He was taking his afternoon walk, strolling around the empty yard while the other prisoners earned their copper coins in the work building. He heard the squeaky swing of the gate, his sandals halting on the gravel.

It was Ueda, moving toward him with uncharacteristic speed.

“Aniki, you have a visitor.”

Sho blinked at him, the words not making sense. Sho wasn’t allowed to have visitors. And nobody had ever violated Lord Hideo’s orders all these years. How could he have a visitor?

“Follow me, okay?”

Sho let Ueda lead him to a building he hadn’t been inside since they’d brought him here, the administrative offices. Warden Inohara worked here, all incoming prisoners were processed here. He was led to a meeting room on the ground floor, Ueda opening the door.

There were actually two visitors. The first, seated at the table inside, wore a light yellow yukata, some golden threads catching the light coming through the windows. He was on the smaller side, fanning himself and looking over at Sho with an amused expression. Despite the way he was slouching in his seat, Sho could see an intelligence in this man’s face. Behind him was another small man, slim-built in a blue tunic and dark trousers, sandals on his feet. Sho was startled when he realized what the man in blue was holding in his left hand, the staff that touched the floor.

It was a Light Staff.

“I’ll leave you to talk,” Ueda said, shutting Sho alone in the room with the two other men.

Sho stayed back by the door, confused, picking at a loose thread on his white prison garb.

“Sho-kun,” the man in blue said, speaking first. “Hello. I wonder if you might remember me?”

He blinked, taking a small step forward. The light from the window had mostly obscured the man’s face at first glance, but realization soon arrived. It had been more than twenty years, but there was no way Sho could forget that round face, that ever-calm expression.

“…Satoshi-kun?”

The man in yellow laughed. “Ah, a beautiful Isejima reunion. Sakurai Sho-san, I presume?”

He nodded. “That’s me.”

“And from the look on your face, you already know my Light Guardian, Ohno Satoshi.”

He’d been a few years older than Sho, and they’d attended school together on Isejima. One day he’d simply stopped showing up. A month after that, word arrived that the quiet, unassuming son of the Ohno family had been Bonded to a noblewoman’s son. The whole thing had been done rather secretly, some nobles preferred it, so Sho had never seen him again. Or learned where Ohno had gone. It was rare that someone so young, only sixteen, was Bonded to another. 

Apparently this was that noblewoman’s son.

He didn’t bother to get up, wiggling his fingers in greeting. “Ninomiya Kazunari, from the 68th generation bearing that illustrious family name, the 39th generation since the founding of the Council of Five.” He offered Sho a wink. “But unfortunately the second Ninomiya to be born to my noble parents, making me effectively…the spare, not the heir.”

“Clan Ninomiya of Kokushi?” Sho asked.

His voice took on a faux-dramatic tone, his hand running through his short, dark locks. “The Lady of Heaven’s chosen swordbearers, the peacekeepers of the realm, the masters of the southeastern waters, the backwater country hicks with all the lemons. Whatever moniker you prefer. Yes, that Clan Ninomiya.”

Ohno cocked his head, looking at Sho with a long-suffering expression. “This one talks a lot.”

Ninomiya smacked at his Light Guardian with his fan. “I’m trying to be impressive here, Oh-chan.”

Sho put his hand to his heart, inclining his head. “It’s an honor to meet you, my lord.”

“See!” Ninomiya said to Ohno teasingly. “See how I impressed him?”

Sho lifted his head, trying not to smile. This was the most entertainment he’d seen in Nakodojima in years, at least since the part-time storyteller and full-time thief Murakami-san had been released. But…why was a member of Clan Ninomiya here to see him?

“Have you been to Kokushi before, Sakurai-san?”

“I haven’t, my lord.”

Ninomiya leaned forward, tapping his fan on the tabletop. “Would you like to go?”

Sho looked from Lord Ninomiya to his guardian, wondering what kind of prank this was. Sho thought he had completely bounced back from his strange illness, but he half-wondered if this was yet another fever dream.

“Well, I don’t know why I even asked your opinion,” Ninomiya muttered. “Since you’re coming back with us anyway.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Ohno stepped forward, expression more serious than his companion’s. “Sho-kun, there’s something you need to know…”

Ninomiya was incensed. Or maybe he really wasn’t. Sho was having a difficult time understanding the man’s odd behavior. “Have you learned nothing from me in all these years, Oh-chan? You don’t do one shocking reveal right after another. There are rules. There is dramatic tension. First, we tell him that I’ve paid for his release. And we save the other information for later. Truly you don’t have a theatrical bone in your body.”

Ohno looked down at him, sighing. “Nino…”

Finally he got to his feet, sandals scuffing the floor as he approached. For the son of a council family, his clothes were a bit worn, his behavior less than noble. Ninomiya Kazunari seemed to behave as though he was an outside party observing the world around him, not a participant within it. In only the few minutes of their acquaintance, Sho found him both frustrating and fascinating. Ninomiya’s sharp eyes took Sho in, appraising him like some artwork to be acquired.

“The warden says you’ve been unwell of late. Plagued by fever. How are you now?”

“Much better, my lord.”

“The warden also says you’re prone to bouts of melancholy.”

“I am, my lord.”

Ninomiya raised an eyebrow, impressed by Sho’s honest admission. “I’m not surprised, considering all you’ve been through.” He stared Sho down. “Given that, do you still put your faith and trust in Amaterasu, Sakurai Sho?”

He paused, choosing his words carefully. How many times in his life would the sons of noble families ask such questions of him?

“I believe in the Lady of Heaven with all my heart.”

Ninomiya nodded. “As expected of an Isejima man. Right, Oh-chan?”

“Stop toying with him,” Ohno mumbled, clearly uncomfortable with Ninomiya’s line of questioning. He was rather openly defiant, given his pledge to protect Ninomiya with his life. Apparently that pledge allowed for him to still speak his mind, even in the company of relative strangers, as Ninomiya offered no rebuke.

Ninomiya turned back to Sho, unfazed by his guardian’s scolding. His eyes searched Sho’s, curious, questioning.

“The fever,” Ninomiya said, voice changing in an instant, becoming undeniably serious. “The fever and the sickness, when did it start?”

“In the middle of the second month.”

Ninomiya crossed his arms. “You’re certain of the timing?”

“Yes, my lord.”

He turned briefly, looking back at Ohno, who gave him only a frown in reply. Ninomiya was a few inches shorter than Sho, turning again to stare up into his face, so close Sho could feel the man’s breath against him. He didn’t dare move away.

“Rumor has it that Lord Hideo broke your staff. That he destroyed the goddess’ marking. Truth or hearsay?”

Sho swallowed uncomfortably.

“Truth.”

“So you are powerless then.”

“I…” Sho looked away, uncomfortable. “I imagine so…”

“You imagine?”

“I’ve had little chance of confirming that, my lord, given my present circumstances. Without my staff, I cannot direct the Lady’s light, so I’ve had no way to determine if the destruction of my brand has permanently severed me from Amaterasu’s gift.”

“But even without your staff, even if your powers have been stolen from you,” Ninomiya said quietly, “would you serve me?”

He was confused. “Serve you?”

“You will be released into my custody and will come with me to Kokushi before I undertake a longer journey. I’ve given you no choice in that matter, as I find it abhorrent that you should be stuck in this awful place for the rest of your life. But I respect the customs of your people, Sakurai Sho. I wish to contract your services as a light magic user, but I will not force you into my employ.”

“Why…why would you want me?” Surely a nobleman like Ninomiya knew what had happened on Kaido. Surely he knew why Sho was in Nakodojima Prison in the first place. “And besides that, what authority do you even have to take me out of here?”

“As to your second question, I’ve made the argument to Warden Inohara that you’ve committed no crime. That holding you here is a cruel and undeserved punishment. That argument, true as it is, was ineffective. Warden Inohara is paid by Clan Matsumoto to hold you here indefinitely. But Kaido is very far away, and I’ve been told that nobody from the north has ever come to check on you as you rot away here.”

“My lord…”

Ninomiya gave him a rather condescending pat on the cheek. “I simply offered Warden Inohara more money. That’s what really holds sway in this archipelago if you truly pay attention. You have been freed into my custody, and Clan Ninomiya funds will flow into Inohara’s coffers to join the Clan Matsumoto money. With my generous gift, the Warden will tell anyone who asks that yes, Sakurai Sho is still imprisoned here. And should Clan Matsumoto suddenly grow curious about your welfare after fifteen long years and come calling in person then…well…the Warden will inform them of your recent death due to natural causes. A pity, of course, but prison takes its toll, does it not?”

Sho was still greatly confused. Why would Ninomiya Kazunari go to such lengths to free him? The peacemaker family deceiving another clan on the Council of Five? Sho had never been interested in politics, but he could see the dangerous implications of such a scheme. “And regarding my first question, my lord?”

“Why would I want you,” Ninomiya said, eyes sparkling with whatever knowledge he was still keeping to himself. For his precious dramatic tension. “Why would I want Sakurai Sho of Isejima to serve me? It’s called using any resource at my disposal to confirm a gut instinct. And there’s no better resource to help me in this particular matter than you. I’m being sent into a trap, although only a cynic like myself seems to see it that way. To anyone else, I’m being sent to confirm a miracle with my own two eyes.”

“I don’t understand. I struggle to understand your riddles.”

“Nino…” Ohno finally interrupted, his patience having finally worn thin. “Just tell him. Tell him now. Or I will.”

“Very well.” Ninomiya took hold of Sho by the wrist. “Come. It’s best you sit down to hear this.”

Sho’s heart started to race, allowing Ninomiya to put him in a chair. He was made all the more nervous when he felt Ohno move to stand behind him, setting his Light Staff on the table so he might instead place his hands on Sho’s shoulders, resting them there in an almost comforting gesture.

Ninomiya pulled out a chair, sitting to face Sho, looking at him carefully. “In the middle of the second month, a portal opened on the grounds of Matsumoto Castle. But no Shadows emerged from it.”

Sho’s mouth went dry. The middle of the second month…

“No Shadows emerged,” Ninomiya repeated. “But a man did. He walked right out of it, and it closed immediately behind him. The man who walked out of that portal had been dragged into one fifteen years earlier and presumed dead.”

Sho felt tears sting his eyes then, goosebumps rising on his skin.

Come back to me… 

“You lie…”

“Lady Rinko of Clan Matsumoto has called an emergency meeting of the Council of Five on Kaido in a month’s time. My mother is sending me as her representative to bear witness to the greatest miracle of our times, to see proof with my own eyes that the Lady of Heaven has had enough of her brother’s meddling. That she defied him, that she fought to retrieve one of us from the Dark Realm.”

Sho shook his head, tears rolling uncontrollably down his cheeks. He barely registered Ohno’s grip tightening on his shoulders. “You lie…you lie…”

Ninomiya looked upon him with pity in his eyes. “I don’t know if it’s a lie. I know only what I’ve been told. Only what was sent to my clan in a letter. The whispers that have traveled from island to island, spreading like an uncontainable wildfire. As I said, I’m being sent to confirm a miracle, Sho-san, and that is why a cynical man like me needs you to come along.” 

He reached out, taking Sho’s hands in his own. 

“I need you to tell me if the man that walked out of the Dark Realm is truly Matsumoto Jun.”

—

Ninomiya Kazunari’s personal vessel, the Niji, was built for speed. It zipped around the archipelago frequently, making deals to sell Kokushi’s citrus and copper ore at several ports of call. The ship’s usual occupant, however, was prone to seasickness. Not a good trait in a noble family’s trade representative, but “Nino” was too stubborn to quit. His love of crafting good deals that benefited his family’s coffers outweighed the misery with which he spent his numerous voyages at sea.

Ohno was telling Sho these things as Nino tried to sleep off his sour stomach in the cabin next door.

Sho wasn’t absorbing much of the small talk. For one, Ohno wasn’t very good at it. He’d never been much for talking when they’d been kids, and as an adult, he’d shown little improvement as a conversationalist. He mumbled most of the time. And for two, Sho had just received the shock of his life, had barely registered the ride from the prison to the harbor where the Niji had already been waiting to take him away.

It didn’t make any sense, and not one detail of the story seemed possible. That a portal would open, and Matsumoto Jun would walk out of it. 

And yet he had, or at least the man who had emerged from it claimed to be him. In between bouts of nausea, Nino had shared all the details he had, such as they were. That in the second month of the current year, a man in his mid-thirties had emerged from a portal, stepping out of the Dark Realm and into the Stormlands. It seemed that he had aged while there, had aged at a normal rate. He’d gone in at twenty, returned at thirty-five.

The physical resemblance had been enough to convince his sister to speak with him rather than order a light magic user to immediately destroy the person who’d crossed over. And upon speaking with him, Lady Rinko had accepted that the man who’d returned was truly her younger brother. He’d known things, things that only the Matsumoto siblings had shared in confidence. 

The man calling himself Matsumoto Jun could remember few details about the Dark Realm, as though the process of crossing between realms had stripped him of just how he’d spent the last fifteen years of his life. Pain. Fear. Those were the only sentiments that had made it into the letters that Lady Rinko had sent to the other council families. Matsumoto Jun had suffered greatly, but apparently the Lady of Heaven had found a way to rescue him, to bring him back. He didn’t have an answer for how that had been achieved either.

The suffering he’d endured may have been forgotten by his mind, but his body had not been as fortunate. The letters had not gone into detail, but they spoke of ‘black markings’ and ‘scarring.’ Remnants of the Dark Lord’s grip on him for so many years.

By all accounts, his arrival was a miracle. Something to be celebrated. Perhaps the people of the Stormlands had proven themselves so faithful that the Lady herself had crossed over to retrieve Matsumoto Jun from her brother’s clutches at what was likely great risk to her. It was proof of Amaterasu’s love for them. Perhaps if they were more faithful, perhaps if they continued on a righteous path, more souls lost to the Dark Realm might be rescued, brought back from the Shadows’ clutches.

Ninomiya Kazunari alone seemed to reject this interpretation.

Where others saw miracle, Nino saw a trap. 

“He’s a spy,” Nino had said earlier, returning from losing his lunch overboard as the Niji hit the open sea, en route to one of Kokushi’s lesser islands to “retrieve further assistance” before steaming north to Kaido for the Council of Five meeting.

“A spy?” Sho had asked, voice shaking.

“A man doesn’t just come back from the Dark Realm. The man posing as the long lost Matsumoto Jun is a double agent, an evil presence in service to the Dark Lord Tsukuyomi himself. This isn’t a miracle. This is a new means of warfare.”

Nino had sprung Sho from prison to see if his theory was true.

“Lady Rinko wants so badly for it to be him. The people of Kaido, hell, all of the Stormlands want it to be him,” Nino had said. “They want this miracle, after so many lives have been lost for centuries. They desperately want a turn in the tide.”

“But nobody knows him like you, Sho-kun,” Ohno had said. “You are Bonded to one another.”

“Which makes you the only person I can trust,” Nino said, going even further. “I beg of you, come along as a member of my delegation. We will disguise you. And you will observe this Matsumoto Jun. Surely you will be able to tell if he has been corrupted.”

“And if he hasn’t been corrupted? If it’s truly him somehow?”

“Then I’ll do a dance for joy,” Ninomiya had spat out. “But I didn’t get as good at trade and commerce as I am without being able to sniff out a rat. Even if I’ve got to bring someone else along to do the sniffing for me.”

Sho had not wanted to ask the next question, but he had anyway.

“And if Jun has been corrupted?”

It was Ohno who had spoken, taking Sho’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “Then you know what we must do.”

Now, hours later, he was in Ohno’s cabin, resting in a spare bunk as his long-lost schoolmate finally gave up on making casual conversation with him. Instead he put out the lantern at his bedside, plunging the small cabin into darkness.

Today had been an impossible day.

After fifteen years, Sho was a free man. Mostly.

After fifteen years, Sho had learned that Jun had returned, providing him at last with some sort of explanation for the strange illness that had consumed him. Jun had returned through the portal, the Bonding between them likely reactivating in some way.

But Ninomiya and Ohno had not even allowed for that thought to settle. For the years of guilt and self-hatred to be soothed, for Sho to take comfort in Jun’s return even if they never met again. Because they’d made it clear…

If the man on Kaido claiming to be Matsumoto Jun was someone else…perhaps even some _thing_ else…if he was somehow an agent of the Dark Lord, then there was only one path open to them:

To kill him before he killed anyone else.

“He could be aware of it entirely, his dark purpose, or utterly oblivious,” Nino had suggested, looking miserable as the ship carried them back toward Kokushi territory. “A spy telling a vulnerable sister everything she wants to hear…or a sleeper agent, a ticking time bomb that could bring chaos to Kaido and all of the Stormlands without even realizing it.”

Nino would not be dissuaded. The man saw conspiracy in all of it. He believed that the meeting in Kaido was a trap. That this whole incident was nothing but the machinations of the Dark Lord, seeking to bring everyone who ruled the Stormlands together on Kaido in order to strike at the archipelago’s power structure. Far more effective than the random chaos of his portals. This was Tsukuyomi finding a way to mount a new, more frightening attack on his sister Amaterasu and her people. 

If he’d figured out how to weaponize and send Matsumoto Jun back, how many other long-lost relatives could be sent into their world? Embraced with open arms only to unleash a hell they couldn’t even imagine.

As Sho lay there, he wished for a sign. For proof. For the Lady of Heaven to return his pain, to restore that ache that was so specific to Jun’s presence in his life. Surely he’d know. Seeing Jun, being near Jun again. Sho would know. 

Miracle or pawn? Divine intervention or agent of destruction?

Sho shut his eyes, crying quietly to not disturb Ohno.

The man he’d loved, the man he’d failed. Whoever it was that was waiting in Kaido would look like Jun. Sound like Jun. Their time together had been comparatively short, but their connection had been special. Something that could not be put into words. 

Even words like mine to protect…and mine to adore. Even those weren’t enough.

Losing Jun once had torn Sho’s life to pieces. And now he hadn’t even been given a moment to be thankful, to consider the miracle of his reappearance. To live in a world where Jun was still alive. Instead he’d been bombarded with Ninomiya’s theories, Ninomiya’s gut feelings. 

And with more than a millennium of precedent - that nobody returns from the Dark Realm.

—

Sanukijima was a rather unremarkable island, uninhabited for centuries after being turned into a wildlife refuge by one of Nino’s ancestors. It was mainly home to migrating birds in the winter, isolated for the rest of the year. There was a lighthouse on the island, though the waters around the island were so rarely traveled that nobody had manned the building for at least fifty years. 

“This is where I come to relax sometimes when I’m sick of court politics and marketplace haggling,” Nino said as soon as his trusted sailors rowed the three of them to shore, dropping them on one of the pristine white beaches before heading back offshore to where the Niji was anchored. “Oh-chan likes it here, too.”

Ohno shrugged, hoisting the supplies they’d brought for what was only to be a stopover of one night. “It would be more relaxing for me if you were quiet.”

Nino linked arms with Sho, walking with him toward the lighthouse. “You see the abuse I put up with? Sixty-eight wondrous generations of Ninomiyas, and my parents saw fit to bond me to this gloomy fellow.”

“Satoshi-kun could have rejected you,” Sho said. “He must have seen something in you or he’d have never gone through with the Bonding.”

Nino looked aside, grinning at his Light Guardian. “Was it my handsome face? My charming personality?”

“I was sixteen and Isejima was boring,” Ohno said bluntly.

Nino snorted with laughter. “Oh-chan has always done a wonderful job protecting me, although I think he has defended me more often from cutpurses in a crowded marketplace than any of the Dark Lord’s Shadows. A regular old bodyguard would have been a more reasonable investment on my parents’ part.”

They made it away from the beach and onto the rolling, grassy fields that stretched on into the distance, dominating the landscape. Sho suspected that Nino and Ohno’s bickering conversation was intentional, a way to keep Sho from going mad. A distraction from Jun’s return, from the knowledge of what they’d have to do if he was an unwitting pawn of the Dark Lord.

Sho couldn’t bear the thought of losing him again. But an enemy of Amaterasu could not be allowed to remain. The light magic users of Isejima had worked too hard for too long, fighting back against the Shadows, closing the portals that opened. 

He wondered if the pain that had started on the day they’d met had been Amaterasu’s way of warning him. Be careful of this one. Perhaps Sho had been the goddess’ pawn all along. Surely someone of her power did not experience life the way mere mortals did. Perhaps she’d known the future, known that the Dark Lord would use Jun to further his own agenda. Maybe she hadn’t wanted Sho to protect Jun at all…

No, he thought angrily. No, that couldn’t possibly be it. It was too cruel of the Lady, letting their lives intertwine. Letting them be Bonded to one another, letting Jun be stolen away into that portal, letting Sho rot in a prison for fifteen years thinking him dead, only so he could be here now. Only so he could be the one to appraise his long-lost love and pass judgment on him.

“Sho-chan!”

He nearly stumbled in the grass, lost in his thoughts. He looked up to see that a figure had emerged from the small stone house connected to the lighthouse. It was a man, tall and slim, long legs propelling him quickly in their direction.

“He’s gone and ruined the surprise,” Nino lamented.

Sho was stunned, seeing the man approach in simple clothes. There was still a youthfulness to his movements, but he’d changed in fifteen years. As he came closer, Sho could see how much of their lives had passed them by.

He was caught up in the man’s sudden embrace, and he broke down, not caring if Nino or Ohno saw.

“Aiba-kun…” he managed to say, clinging to him tightly. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

Aiba was crying too, and Sho barely noticed Nino and Ohno moving ahead to enter the stone house, leaving them to their reunion.

It was a while before they calmed down enough to speak. Aiba released him, tears in his eyes as he looked at him, tracing his fingers across Sho’s face.

“I’ve missed you. I think of you every day. Those nights in the lab.” He let out a sad little laugh. “All your disapproving looks.”

Sho looked down. “I’ve thought of you as well. I always wondered what happened to you.” He squeezed Aiba’s hand. “Thank the Lady you’re still alive.”

“I give thanks every day for that.”

They moved away from the lighthouse, Aiba walking closely at his side. Together they relived the aftermath of that horrible day.

Nemuro Province seemed like another lifetime entirely. After the portal had closed, Lady Rinko had been inconsolable. She had ordered them all the way back to the castle, abandoning their resupply mission. Sho could remember little more than cold. The feeling of cold as they returned, dread in their bellies, to report to Lord Hideo what had transpired.

He’d ridden back in the sleigh with Aiba and Matsuoka, unable to speak. Unable to process his grief. The two alchemists had merely sat with him, all those long hours in the sleigh, pondering their next move. What would Lady Rinko do? Would she accept responsibility for what had occurred that day? Would she accept that her brother would still be with them if she hadn’t been so impulsive?

As the journey back brought them closer and closer to Matsumoto Castle, Sho had seen the expression on Lady Rinko’s face change. Had seen it harden, become impenetrable. No, he came to understand. No, she would not accept her own errors. When the group of them huddled at night, poking at the sad remaining rations, she increasingly looked upon Sho with contempt. Almost as if to say that he had not done enough, that it was his fault Jun was lost. And Sho, consumed with loss, with failure, had agreed with her.

But Lady Rinko’s feelings toward Matsuoka and Aiba seemed to shift on the long road back as well. She started to sequester herself, refusing to speak to them. She spoke more and more with the honor guards. Whispers in the darkness. The amount of time that passed between Jun’s loss and their arrival at the castle grew and grew. Perhaps the truth was going to be rewritten. It was Sho’s fault. Matsuoka’s fault. Aiba’s fault.

Sho had barely taken in some of their conversations on those long, frigid days, but somehow it hadn’t been a surprise when he woke on the final morning to discover that Matsuoka and Aiba had disappeared in the night. They’d been close enough to a town that they hadn’t bothered to steal a sleigh or any of the horses. All they’d taken was the sack of “mushrooms,” the remaining jars of the compound they’d worked so hard to create.

They’d disappeared into the night with any proof that the Dark Lord’s Shadows could be fought by those not blessed to be born on Isejima.

Lady Rinko had simply carried on. If she felt betrayed by the alchemists, Sho never knew. At the very least, their desertion was another way to bolster her new story. To simplify the narrative. That a portal had opened and the alchemists had fled in fright, had likely frozen to death somewhere. That a portal had opened and Sho had failed in his only duty. And that was all there was.

Aiba filled in the parts that Sho didn’t know, stuck in prison for so many years.

“We saw the change in her, saw how she just…broke. Losing Matsujun like that, just like she’d lost her mother…we didn’t want her to do any further damage. It was Matsu-nii’s idea to run, to take our knowledge with us and get as far from her and Kaido as we could,” Aiba explained. “We wanted to bring you along, Sho-chan, but seeing how you were…we didn’t think you’d have come even if we asked.”

Sho could only nod in agreement. He certainly would have refused them.

Aiba looked at him with sadness in his eyes.

“Either way, I’m truly sorry. If we’d taken you with us, even by force, you’d have never suffered as you have.”

Sho said nothing. Whether in Nakodojima Prison or on the run with the alchemists, the misery Sho had lived with the last fifteen years would never have gone away.

Aiba explained that they had gone to the coast, selling ingredients to book passage on a ship. Matsuoka’s research had made him unwelcome on his native Shuhon, so they’d gone as far as they could get from either island. They’d ended up in Kokushi, sticking to smaller islands at first. Lady Rinko’s feelings aside, they still felt guilty for what had transpired. That their research had contributed to Jun’s death.

“Did we repent? Not entirely, no,” Aiba muttered as they walked. He’d matured greatly in the years since Sho had last seen him, his voice serious and calm. “We still believed in what we’d discovered, but we refused to let it fall into the wrong hands. If our formula got out, it might get ransomed. Wealthier islands and clans might hog it to themselves, using it to create weapons like the light bomb. They’d sell it to those less fortunate at a high cost. It wouldn’t be about saving lives from the Dark Lord. It would be about keeping your own people safe, screw anyone else who won’t pay up. We couldn’t allow that. Either the formula helps everyone in the Stormlands fight the Dark Lord or it helps no one.”

In the end, they’d decided to make money the traditional way. Potions and healing. They hid themselves the first several years, presuming that Lady Rinko would track them down, torture the knowledge out of them. When that never happened, they set up shop in Tokaishi, Kokushi’s capital.

“Nino found our shop. Actually, it’s more like he was annoyed with all the business we were bringing in. He owned a stake in a rival business, so he showed up one day to find out why. And now he owns both shops. The man loves making money. All that aside, we’ve been friends ever since, but it was only in the last year that I told him the truth about us,” Aiba said. 

“What about the light bomb?” Sho couldn’t imagine someone as profit-obsessed as Ninomiya not exploiting the discovery for himself.

“That’s where Ohno-san comes in,” Aiba said. “He’s said if Nino uses the knowledge that Matsu-nii and I have to only benefit his own clan and people, then he’ll break their Bonding.”

Sho raised an eyebrow. “Couldn’t he just get another Light Guardian?”

Aiba’s grin in reply finally brought a bit of levity back. “Don’t go thinking you and Matsujun were the only ones to ever go through a Bonding without some added complications.”

“Oh?” 

There’d been little time for Sho to pick up on something like that in the last few days between Ohno and Ninomiya, but it made a bit more sense now.

“Yep,” Aiba said, kicking a little at the grass. “As for me, I prefer a bit more freedom, and so does the woman I’m seeing back in Tokaishi. Well. That’s if she’s still the woman I’m seeing whenever we get back from Kaido. Erika-chan’s always done her own thing, which is what I like about her and…”

Sho put a hand to Aiba’s shoulder. The chatterbox aspect of him that Sho remembered from so many years ago was reemerging. “Wait…you’re going to Kaido too?”

“I am,” Aiba said. “Since Matsujun and Lady Rinko and others at court might recognize me, I’ll be in disguise. Just like you if you decide to come, Sho-chan.”

He sighed. It was amazing that no matter what had happened in Kaido, Aiba could still so easily refer to Jun as the ‘Matsujun’ from their youth. How uncomplicated it must be to be Aiba Masaki.

“Lord Kazunari…well, Nino has claimed that I have a choice in the matter, but knowing what I know, I don’t see how I can refuse him…”

Aiba snorted. “That sounds like a Nino ultimatum. He said he freed you from that prison because he’s such a nice guy? And that it would be such a help to him if you came along to see if Matsujun’s truly been corrupted by the Dark Lord?”

“Yes.”

“Uh huh,” Aiba said, coming to a halt as they reached the far end of the island. They stood together, watching the waves lap against the shore. “That was the approach he used when he bought up our shop. That he would kindly ensure that the city markets would continue selling us the ingredients we needed. Basically he threatened that he’d have our suppliers boycott us unless he was allowed a say in our business…”

“That doesn’t sound legal…”

Aiba smiled. “He really didn’t like the way we were outperforming that rival business he owned. Ah, but Nino-chan is loyal once you’re on his side.”

“Even if he threatened you into joining that side?”

“I don’t really have a mind for business,” Aiba mused. “So long as I can find a way to keep helping people, I’ll do it. And greed aside, Nino really does want to help people too. If the Dark Lord is trying to use this meeting of the Council clans to make trouble, then Nino wants to be able to fight back before too many people get hurt. And he may not have told you this, but it’s also why he’s the one who will represent his clan in Kaido. He truly thinks it’s a trap, which is why he didn’t want his parents or sister, the next clan leader, to go. He volunteered for it. He’s willing to put himself in danger to determine the truth about Matsujun.”

Sho felt tears stinging his eyes. “Do you think it’s really him? That person who has come through the portal?”

Aiba’s voice was quieter. “I…I don’t know. I hope it is. I hope that Nino is mistaken. That this is truly a miracle from Amaterasu.”

“Nino seems to think I’ll be able to tell if there’s something wrong. If he’s been corrupted by the Dark Lord.” He shook his head. “But what if I can’t? What if I can’t tell?”

Aiba’s arm came around him. “It’s not your fault if you can’t. You need to be more forgiving of yourself, Sho-chan. We have no way of knowing what the Lady of Heaven’s motives are most of the time, so do you honestly think the Dark Lord’s going to be any more transparent? I think it’s enough if you try. And if it’s truly not Matsujun, at least not the Matsujun we knew from back then…don’t we owe it to his memory to see this through to the end?”

“This person looks like him, Aiba-kun. This person looks like Jun.” Sho shook with terror, tears streaming down his face. “Even if I could still call upon my light magic, I wouldn’t be able to do it. I…I couldn’t be the one to hurt him. I couldn’t be the one to…to kill him…”

Aiba’s voice was soothing, hand rubbing his shoulder. “Oh Sho-chan, I’m so sorry…we can’t even imagine how hard this must be for you. After everything you’ve been through, I wish we could just leave you at peace. But I swear, Nino wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble if he thought there was a better way. He believes that lives are at stake, and he’ll do anything to keep the peace as his family has fought to do for so long.”

But Aiba said nothing more than that, holding onto him, anchoring him on the shore. Aiba in his kindness kept Sho from losing himself entirely, staying close and allowing Sho to cry out in sadness, in frustration, releasing fifteen years of sorrow and letting the wind carry it away.

—

The stone house was furnished, its cupboards full of food and supplies. Aiba had been here for the last several weeks while Nino and Ohno had journeyed to free Sho from the prison. Matsuoka-san, his girlfriend, and the friends he’d made in Tokaishi presumed he was away gathering rare ingredients for medicines. But secretly he’d been here on Sanukijima, awaiting Nino and Ohno’s return so he could join them on the way to Kaido. While here he’d been constructing small light bombs, using the formula he and Matsuoka had perfected. Nothing so large as the helmet-full of ingredients Jun had created on that horrible day, but enough that he and Nino could aid Ohno in battle if a corrupt Matsumoto Jun proved hostile.

But that was not the only reason why Aiba had been sequestered here for so long.

Sho rose to his feet so quickly that he knocked his chair back, anger flooding through him. “You did what?!”

Nino raised a hand, trying to calm him. “Well, there was no guarantee that Warden Inohara was going to set you free, so you can’t fault me for having a back-up plan.”

“This is a lot more than a mere back-up plan!” Sho cried, hands on his head in horror. He turned to Ohno. “Satoshi-kun! How could you have participated in this?”

Ohno merely shrugged. “When it’s over, we were going to switch them back…”

Sho had just been informed that the Yata no Kagami, Amaterasu’s sacred mirror, had been snatched from Isejima just before Nino and Ohno had sailed on to Nakodojima. A fake had been left behind on the pedestal in Ama-no-Iwato. The true mirror was now sitting on the table before them, as Nino had just removed it from one of his travel cases to prove he wasn’t lying.

If Nino had run into trouble getting Sho freed from Nakodojima, his plan had been to bring the Yata no Kagami along to Kaido. While the sacred object had long been known as the Mirror of Wisdom, in some circles it was thought of as the Mirror of Truth. The plan had been to find a way to get Matsumoto Jun to look into it. Perhaps then his true nature as the Dark Lord’s pawn might be shown.

It was certainly a leap in logic, but Ninomiya had shown thus far that he would stop at nothing to prove the truth of his suspicions. But it was Ohno who had suggested stealing the mirror from Ama-no-Iwato as a way to accomplish that.

Given Nino’s status as a nobleman, nobody on Isejima had batted an eye when he’d shown up with his Light Guardian. The purpose of their visit? To journey into the sacred cave and pray to the goddess, to thank her for the miracle she had bestowed on the Stormlands in returning Matsumoto Jun from the Dark Lord’s clutches. And who on Isejima would have barred a nobleman from a Council of Five family and a native son from entering the cave?

It was there that they’d made the switch, taking the true mirror and leaving a false one in its place. And how had they come about making a fake Yata no Kagami?

Ohno, a native of Isejima, knew the mirror. No matter how many years he’d been gone from the island of his birth, he had prayed before it at thirteen, earning his brand from the goddess. He’d prayed before it again at sixteen when he’d been Bonded to Nino. He’d drawn it from memory, the glass and the current frame. He and Aiba had worked together to craft a copy with materials Nino had acquired.

“That mirror has never left Isejima!” Sho hissed, furious about the grave sin they’d committed. “Even if the Elders do not discover the truth, you’ve stolen from the Lady of Heaven!”

“Borrowed,” Nino interjected. “Borrowed in her name, too, I should add. We explained what we were doing. We prayed!”

Ohno seemed to have no qualms about his blasphemy either. “I think if she disapproved of it that she’d have already struck us dead before we set foot off the island. So…may her light continue to shine upon our plans.”

Sho started to pace, arms crossed and shaking his head. “I don’t believe this…I truly do not believe this…”

Aiba couldn’t help giggling. “Sho-chan, you’re pecking.”

“What’s that?” Nino asked.

“Sho-chan has a history of this. Disapproving of schemes and still going along with them in the end. Pecking and pecking like a worried mother hen.”

He pointed at Aiba. “This goes a bit beyond worried, Aiba-kun! It worked out so well the last time I got involved in a situation I disapproved of!”

Aiba quieted down, his smile vanishing. Realizing that the last “situation,” the developments in the alchemy lab, had resulted in Jun’s loss. 

“Sho-kun,” Ohno continued, “maybe we could also use the mirror to help you.”

Nino was curious. “Help him? Help him to what?”

Ohno lifted his right hand to his heart, a gesture Sho had not seen done by another person in more than a decade. “Be healed.”

Aiba still looked chastened. “So the rumors are true? Lord Hideo…harmed you?”

“It was Ryoko-san who was forced to carry it out, but yes,” he acknowledged quietly. “A just punishment…”

“Sho-chan, that’s not true…” Aiba looked away, unable to convince him otherwise. 

Nino held up a hand, calling for silence. “The time to decide is now, I’m afraid.” He looked to Sho. “We leave in the morning for Kaido, and there is no turning back. Sho-san, the choice is still yours if you come along or not. If you decline, I will instruct my crew to leave you at one of the fueling stops along the way that is still in Kokushi territory. I will give you a token that says you are a protected friend of my clan. If you make your way to Tokaishi, you will be protected by my family, no questions asked about who you are. Or you could make your way to Matsuoka’s shop. He can also look out for you.”

Nino leaned over, pushing the mirror in Sho’s direction.

“Your other choice is to join us. You will help us determine if Matsumoto Jun works for our enemy. You will help us guarantee the security of the archipelago and all the Lady’s people.” Nino paused for his beloved dramatic effect. “And if Matsumoto Jun is truly no threat, then you can watch over him again, as you pledged to do so many years ago.”

Sho stared Nino down, hearing the manipulation in his voice. In only a few short days, the man had learned exactly how to deal with him. Appeal to his faith. And then appeal to his heart. 

He could see that Ohno and Aiba weren’t happy with how Nino was handling it, but they decided against interfering. The choice was Sho’s alone.

“Could I have a moment?” he asked quietly.

Nino nodded. “Of course.”

Sho left the three of them behind in the stone house, going out into the night. Trapped in Nakodojima for so many years, it had been so long since he’d had the pleasure of truly gazing at the night sky.

They weren’t the stars of the Western Beach on Isejima. They weren’t the stars of the balcony at Matsumoto Castle. But they were light, they were the goddess’ beauty and power shining down on a lost soul. It was fairly warm outside, but he still felt a chill, a nervousness seeping into his bones. 

So many years ago, he’d fled a dinner party, questioning the goddess he worshipped. Questioning her motives in bringing Matsumoto Jun into his life.

After so many years of her silence, he still couldn’t bring himself to turn away from her light. He brought his hand to his heart, so unsure if they even remained connected this way. The pain had returned in the prison, just as Jun had walked through the portal and returned to them. And yet when his illness vanished, it hadn’t remained. Jun was in this world, but Sho felt cut off from him. Just as severed as their bond had been when the Shadows had stolen him away right before his eyes.

“You’ve pulled me this way and that over the years, my lady,” he said quietly, looking up. “I’ve only tried to do what I thought you wanted of me. I’ve made so many mistakes, but I’ve tried so damn hard.”

Only silence, only starlight.

“Is it selfish of me to want to see him again, be near him again, even if he now serves Lord Tsukuyomi?” he asked. “Is it that perpetual selfishness of mine that makes me so unworthy in your sight?”

He pressed harder against his heart, against ruined flesh, anger taking hold.

“Speak and I will listen,” he hissed. “No matter what has happened to me, I have remained your faithful servant. All my life I have only wished to make you happy. To make you proud of me. I have always been listening and waiting.”

He shut his eyes, listening. And waiting.

The door to the stone house opened, then closed.

He soon felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Ohno. A sign from the Lady of Heaven? Or a sign that Ninomiya was growing impatient?

“Sho-kun.”

“Yes?”

“Can we pray to her together?”

He opened his eyes, turning. Ohno was there with the Yata no Kagami in hand.

“Aren’t you scared to have that here, Satoshi-kun? To take it in your hand? Do you truly believe she approves of what you’ve done?” he asked.

Ohno merely let out a breath. “I’m not afraid of Amaterasu. It’s her brother I’m worried about.”

“What would you do if our places were reversed? What would you do if I was asking you to join me to determine if Lord Kazunari is the Dark Lord’s spy? And what if that turned out to be the truth? Would you be able to kill him, even if it wasn’t by your own hand?” He looked over. “Could you kill someone you loved?”

Ohno didn’t look remotely embarrassed. “Ah. Aiba-chan told you. About me and Nino…”

“He’s always had a reputation for gossip, much as he denies it.”

Ohno made only a soft ‘hmm’ in reply.

“Satoshi-kun, could you do it?”

“…yes.”

“Then you have a strength that I seem to lack.”

“I probably don’t,” Ohno admitted. “I have to just accept the facts. If Nino was an agent of the Dark Lord, then it wouldn’t be Nino. Not the Nino I know, the Nino I’ve pledged my life to protect. So I would do what needed to be done to protect others instead.”

“Truthfully, I only knew Jun for a few months,” Sho said. “So maybe I’m not justified in feeling the way I feel about him. He’s been gone from my life for much longer than he was ever in it…”

“That doesn’t matter,” Ohno interrupted him. “That doesn’t matter at all. What you felt and what you still feel is real. And that’s why I know this is difficult. But think of it this way. If it’s really your Lord Jun, just as he was when he left you, then rejoice in his return. And if it’s not him, if his soul or heart has been stolen, then you must protect him in a different way than before. Protect his memory and destroy the corruption the Dark Lord has sent forth in his place.”

He smiled bitterly. “I’ve forced you to speak so much.”

“Anything for an old friend,” was the reply, and Sho couldn’t keep in the sad laugh that escaped him. “You’ve already made up your mind a while ago, haven’t you?”

Sho nodded. “Yes. I have.”

“Then let’s ask for her guidance.”

He agreed, reaching out a hand so they might both hold the mirror together. It was cool to the touch, but he felt no other reaction. No pain, nothing like his experience in Ama-no-Iwato.

They stood together under the stars, asking for Amaterasu to show them the way.

—

Tomorrow the Niji would dock in Kaido Harbor, and Clan Matsumoto guards would arrive to ferry them up the Kaidogawa to the castle.

The further north they’d traveled, the more nervous Sho had grown. The last few weeks had been an easier journey than his first. It was nearly full summer in Kaido now, and the seas were far milder this time of year. But the easy passage did little to calm the fear that threatened to consume him.

Nino had discussed previous meetings of the Council of Five, namely those he had witnessed back home, the ones his mother hosted on behalf of the clan. Kokushi was begrudgingly respected throughout the archipelago, even though he knew there were always whispers about Clan Ninomiya’s relative lack of power in comparison to the other families. Clan Ishihara of Shuhon. Clan Nagase of Kyuryu. Clan Hirano of Shukyu. And of course, Clan Matsumoto of Kaido.

In the Council meetings, however, every family had an equal voice. They debated laws passed in their areas of influence, discussed threats posed by the Dark Lord in their territory. They decided how to help islands that were in need. The emergency meeting that Matsumoto Rinko had called was out of the ordinary and rather abrupt, given how the islands were scattered. It was unlikely that every Clan’s leader was going to be in attendance at such short notice.

But there was something symbolic about the clans coming together for peaceful debate and discussion that had always meant something to the people. Representatives from families not on the council were often sent to suggest other matters. Given the perceived miracle of Matsumoto Jun’s return, it was likely that Matsumoto Castle would be crammed full of people, both clan representatives and petitioners alike. Leaders from throughout the archipelago were gathering together all in one place.

“And I can think of no better time to strike,” Nino had said warily. “If I was the Dark Lord and wanted to demoralize the Lady’s people, I would wait for as many of the leaders in power to gather as possible. Sending Jun-kun back was always going to arouse curiosity. I pray that I’m wrong…but if not, we could be sailing into a bloodbath.”

Sho had sat out on deck the last few days, watching Ohno and feeling envious. He was strong, confident. Putting his hand to his heart, holding his Light Staff aloft as he practiced and practiced, under strict orders from Nino to be ready for anything. His powerful beams of light flashed and crackled, vanishing into the distance and presumably falling harmlessly into the sea when the energy dissipated.

There would be other Light Guardians in attendance, of course. Light Guardians Bonded to members of the other clans, contracted light magic users for security purposes. But would it be enough if the Dark Lord struck? Was anyone else as paranoid about the meeting as Nino was?

The answer was apparently no. 

With each port they stopped at along the way, refueling and resupplying, enthusiasm was evident. “You’re heading to Matsumoto Castle for the Council meeting? May her light shine upon you and the young lord who has returned.” Sho could see envy in their eyes. Everyone wanted the chance to look upon the person Amaterasu had brought back from the Dark Realm. Everyone was hopeful that Matsumoto Jun’s return was only a harbinger of better things to come.

Every night, Sho had met quietly with Ohno, standing together under the stars and begging for answers. Holding the Yata no Kagami, Ohno prayed that Sho would be healed, that his light magic could be returned to him so he could assist them in case of danger. Holding the Yata no Kagami, Sho prayed that things would be made clear to him. That light magic or no, the bond between Jun and himself was still strong enough that he could identify an impostor, an evil presence. That he’d be able to tell if the man who’d come back was really Jun. 

His Jun.

As always, the Lady’s motives remained unclear, unspoken. Tonight they would try again, one last time before they arrived in Kaido. 

Aiba had sequestered himself for the last few days, working on ways to disguise the light bombs he had created. With fifteen years of practice, he’d found a way to keep the most volatile ingredients separate, encasing the two powders within a small metallic sphere. The sphere held two compartments, and tugging out the piece of metal that separated them would combine the compartments, start the reaction. The spheres were far smaller than Lady Rinko’s helmet had been that day, small enough for two or three to be held in a pocket. But during his time on Sanukijima and his time aboard the Niji, Aiba had found a way to up the potency. The device was small, but the power was great.

Still, Sho could remember the shockwave that had struck on that terrible day when Jun had tossed the helmet. Though the Shadows would likely retreat momentarily, any human within several meters would be blown back by the force of it. There was none of the precision that came with directing light magic. In a fight, Ohno would have to stay far back in order to not be affected. Unless other light magic users came to their aid, he was the only one among them who could seal any portal that opened.

They were having dinner, although Nino had done little more than sip at some broth to keep his stomach from rebelling against him. He was currently standing, looking over the outfits he had somehow cobbled together. Although the gray robes with their hoods seemed to stand out in the Niji’s cabin, Nino was certain that they were going to be the perfect cover for Sho and Aiba once they were brought ashore.

“That is, if Aiba-chan can keep his big mouth shut,” Nino mused, tugging at the fabric.

The islands that made up Kokushi had their reputation throughout the Stormlands as a backwater. As a home for more “simple” people. Rural, superstitious people. It was no wonder that over time it had also gained a reputation as a place where religious sects and movements popped up.

Isejima was the island most beloved by Amaterasu, the island she had blessed with her gift. So people often assumed that people like Sho, people like Ohno, were the most religious in the archipelago. After all, they had the most to be grateful for, the red brands on their chests as proof of the Lady’s goodwill.

But in the last few decades Futanashima, one of Kokushi’s islands, had seen the genesis of the Stormclouds, a society of those utterly devoted to the worship of Amaterasu. They gathered in small communes, living simply and taking vows of silence so they might hear the goddess speak to them someday. 

‘Stormclouds’ was only a nickname given to them because of the gray robes they wore. It was far easier to remember than The Most Devout and Humble Order of Amaterasu’s Faithful, Living Perpetually Under Her Blessed Watchful Eye. As a child, Sho had been taught to look upon such people with indulgence. Provided they acted without malice and did not blaspheme, people like the Stormclouds were worthy of respect. They were motivated by their faith in the Lady.

The rest of the archipelago held other ideas about them, even as The Most Devout and Humble Order had spread to other islands, isolated communities springing up and worshipping the goddess in their own way. Though they’d likely be viewed with derision as Ninomiya Kazunari arrived with two Stormclouds among his entourage, they wouldn’t look out of place. Of course the Stormclouds would want to bear witness to Amaterasu’s miracle as much as anyone else, although conveying the message to their equally silent brethren might be a challenge when they returned to their quaint little villages.

Nino was banking on both that prejudice and begrudging acceptance, having the robes ready for Sho and Aiba to wear. Each had been adorned with a simple yellow pin that denoted them as protected friends of Clan Ninomiya. Nobody at Matsumoto Castle could interfere with them, as they were Nino’s guests. Provided they behaved themselves.

Sho wasn’t looking forward to the disguise, as the robes seemed rather itchy, impractical for the season. But nothing conveyed easy-to-ignore country bumpkin like a Stormcloud robe, and so he would wear it anyway.

He headed out on deck first for the night, standing under far more familiar stars. As a member of the Ninomiya entourage, it was likely that he’d be able to look upon Jun very soon. According to Nino, most Council meetings included a welcome meal before any business was attended to the following day. Perhaps Jun himself would be in attendance.

But if not, it meant that he’d be sharing space with the current leader of Clan Matsumoto. Jun’s sister. A woman who’d let her grief lead her far astray. During the journey north, Sho had prayed for the strength to forgive Rinko for her betrayal. For absolving herself of the blame and pushing it all onto him. She’d been young, hell, they’d all been so young. So sure of themselves. And so terribly wrong.

If Jun was truly Jun, then Sho had to hope that Lady Rinko would be able to find peace. To take comfort in her brother’s return. The woman had lost her mother so horribly, and then her brother right before her eyes. With Lord Hideo having passed as well, Jun’s return could only be a blessing. It was no wonder that she had accepted him. Apparently she had married several years back, had given birth to three children. The future of the clan was set. But that couldn’t entirely replace how Jun’s loss had probably impacted her.

But if Jun wasn’t really Jun…

Sho heard footsteps from behind, had grown accustomed to the soft shuffle that identified Ohno Satoshi. For all his fear about the path ahead, he could only thank Amaterasu for bringing his friend back into his life after so many years apart. Ohno was so calm, so assured of their mission and their goal. Unlike the others, Ohno knew Sho’s heart. Knew the conflict that ran deep in a person from Isejima who was pledged to serve.

Sho was grateful for Aiba’s return to his life, was grateful for all the effort Nino had expended to free him, even if it was to bring him right into what he saw was a trap. As they traveled together, the four of them, Sho knew that he’d have never made it this far without them. He might still be in prison, especially if Lady Rinko chose to lie to Jun about what had happened to his Light Guardian from all those years ago. Nino and the others had given Sho the opportunity to see whoever had emerged from that portal, good and bad. To look upon him with his own eyes.

“Shall we give it another try, Sho-kun?”

He nodded, and they stood together in the starlight, their hands holding the small sacred mirror between them. 

“Lady of Heaven,” Ohno said first. “I am grateful for your protection and your grace. I am grateful for your light. I ask that you please shine it upon your servant Sakurai Sho. Heal him, restore him, let him serve you as he always has.”

Sho let Ohno’s words settle, the mirror showing no reaction as it had on every other night of their journey thus far.

“Lady of Heaven,” Sho prayed. “I am grateful for your protection and your grace. I am grateful for your light. I am selfish and naive, but I ask your indulgence again as I have so many times before. Please allow me the chance to serve you. Please bless me with your healing light so I can fight back against the darkness.”

“May your light shine upon us all,” Ohno muttered.

“May it shine upon us always,” Sho finished.

They both looked up, seeing one another’s outline in the dark. They waited quietly, the minutes passing slowly. He finally heard a soft sigh, then the rustle of clothing as Ohno slipped the mirror back into his pocket.

Perhaps she was ignoring their prayers on account of her mirror being stolen away from its proper place. Perhaps the Lady would never bless them again. Maybe if they…

The pain struck, surging through him, dropping him to his knees. He looked down, breathing heavily. His chest felt like it was on fire.

“Sho-kun!”

He cried out, bringing his hand to his heart and pulling it away just as fast. It was almost as though he’d been burned. He fell forward, unable to brace himself. He heard Ohno’s gasp of pain as he reached out, trying to touch him, to help him.

“Satoshi-kun…”

By now he heard other voices. Nino’s. Aiba’s.

“Kazu,” he heard Ohno say in a commanding tone. “Stay back.”

“What happened?” Aiba cried. “What’s wrong with him?”

There was a flash. And then there was only darkness.

—

It was still dark when he woke, the room lit with only a solitary lantern. Sho found himself in the bunk he’d been using. 

“Is everyone alright?” he asked, voice groggy.

He felt a hand slip into his own, felt a squeeze.

“I’ve never felt anything like that before.” It was Aiba’s voice, close to him. Sitting at his bedside. “We’re lucky nothing happened to the ship, because everyone was out. And I mean out. Maybe half an hour for us, twice that time for you.”

He opened his eyes slowly, trying to breathe. “She spoke to me again.” For the first time since suffering from that horrible illness at the prison, the goddess had spoken.

“If that’s the way Amaterasu speaks to her most faithful, I don’t think I want to know how she speaks to those of us who are more sinful in nature,” Nino said from across the room. Nino lit another lantern, illuminating the cabin a bit more. 

Aiba helped Sho to sit up, rubbing his back gently before letting him go. Ohno and Nino were sitting side by side on the opposite bunk, Aiba seated in a chair between them.

Ohno’s eyes were positively giddy. “I think she did far more than speak, Sho-kun.” He pointed. “When you first felt the pain, I could see…a glow. There. On your body. Strangest thing I’ve ever seen. Look, see if something’s happened.”

Confused, Sho followed Ohno’s line of sight. His chest. He pulled his robe aside, gasping in shock. For fifteen years, all Sho had seen was the destruction Ryoko-san had wrought, the twisted flesh that had come about under Lord Hideo’s orders. But now it was gone. The skin was perfectly smooth, pale save for the dark red sun that had been returned to him.

“Impossible,” he heard Aiba mutter.

Tears sprang to his eyes. Words his mother had spoken to him as a child came to him in that instant. “Nothing is impossible when you believe in the Lady.”

“What does this mean?” Nino asked nervously. “I think it means I’m right. That the person awaiting us in Kaido is not the real Matsumoto Jun. Why else would the Lady restore Sho-san’s brand to him unless she needs him to fight?”

“Maybe she’s just been a little busy,” Aiba argued in reply, voice rather uncertain. “Maybe she’s meant to heal him for a while and got…you know…backed up.”

Nino looked doubtful. “Oh-chan, give him your staff.”

“He’s only just woken up,” Aiba chided him.

“And how do you feel, Sho-san?” Nino continued, ignoring him. “Would you be able to see if she’s restored more than just your brand?”

“It…it doesn’t work that way,” Sho said, shaking his head. “Satoshi-kun’s staff was made for him, just as mine was made for me. I’d need a new one, cut from the Tree of Light on Isejima, blessed in my name.”

He put his right hand to his heart, holding out his left hand as though he was holding on to his staff as he used to do.

“I can’t just borrow his and…”

The room illuminated briefly, causing the others to cry out in shock. It was Ohno who recovered quickest, bolting off the bed and yanking up a blanket. The fire, though small, took a moment to subdue, one of the tapestries hanging on the cabin wall having been set aflame.

Sho removed his hand from his heart in an instant, heart pounding.

“Sho-san…” Nino said quietly, voice afraid. “Sho-san, did you just…”

“He did,” Ohno confirmed, finally putting the flame out. “If the crew smells the smoke, they’ll come running. I’ll tell them we simply knocked over a lantern and we’re safe.”

Ohno departed the cabin, leaving Sho alone with Nino and Aiba. He sat in bed, cradling his left hand in alarm.

“That’s…that’s not possible though, is it?” Aiba asked, sounding far more interested than Nino had. “You explained this to me ages ago, that your staff directs the light…”

“Yes,” he muttered, still unsure what was happening. “Yes, that’s how it has always been done…”

“Do it again,” Aiba said. “Here, I’ll get another lantern. We’ll do this properly.”

“Aiba-kun, this is not another one of your alchemical experiments,” Nino hissed. “This is my damn ship!”

“And Sho-chan just used light magic without a staff,” Aiba snapped right back. “We need to prove that wasn’t just a one-time fluke.”

Ohno returned, agreeing with Aiba that it needed to be tried again. Sho was still a little shocked, not realizing the full extent of what had happened until Ohno was standing before him, telling him to light the candle inside the lantern.

“We need to know how well you can control it,” Ohno said. 

“Okay,” he agreed, taking a deep breath. He saw Nino grab one of the pillows from the bunk, hiding his face in it just in case Sho burned down his entire beloved ship. For his part, Aiba was sitting close, leaning forward, eyes following Sho’s every minute movement.

With shaking fingers, he brought his right hand to his heart, to the brand that had been miraculously restored. He held out his left hand, palm out and fingers spread. His hand shook terribly, and he soon heard Ohno’s voice again.

“It’s okay, Sho-kun. It’s going to be okay.”

Sho took another breath. And then another. The light staff had always been an extension of himself, so he pretended as though it was still there, making a fist instead. This calmed him a little, and he focused, staring directly at the wick of the candle.

He focused and focused until he saw the tiny spark.

“Lady of Heaven,” Aiba gasped, voice full of awe.

Sho looked up, watching as Nino’s face emerged again from behind the pillow. Slowly, Nino met everyone’s eyes, utterly serious. Sho already knew what he was going to say.

Nino’s eyes held on Sho’s. 

“Nobody else can know about this,” Nino said quietly. “Nobody.”

“Who would believe it?” Aiba muttered.

Nino was still staring Sho down. “We don’t know how powerful you are now, and we can’t afford to let anything happen to you until we know for certain. Unless we’re in grave danger, you cannot use that power again. Do you understand?”

Sho agreed entirely. His whole body shook with the change, with the terrifying power that was now flowing through him.

“I promise,” he said.

He figured it was best they not know about the painful pleasure he’d felt once the candle had started to glow. The pain that had just reignited within him, that almost comforting ache in his chest.

The pain that told him that Jun was near. That Jun was in danger. 

And that it was Sho’s responsibility to save him.

—

The gate stayed open behind them, servants of Clan Matsumoto rowing them to one of the docks as more small boats came following right behind. Sho had never seen so much activity in Matsumoto Town. The streets had been full of people, the bridges they’d passed under covered in ribbons of clan purple. The entire stronghold was aglow, assured that their young lord had returned home. Ready for the world to confirm and officially acknowledge what they already knew.

Of course, in Kaido Jun had been back for nearly three months now. No harm had come to the town, at least not that Sho had seen as the boat traveled the Kaidogawa and moved to the canal. The island assumed the miracle was still a miracle.

Inside the grotto, Sho did his best to be careful when peeking out from underneath the heavy gray hood. Boats were being tethered, nobles and their entourages were emerging. There was the Matsumoto purple, the yellow of Ninomiya, the dark Hirano crimson, the Ishihara green, and the lighter red of Clan Nagase. The air had a celebratory feeling in it, and he turned, seeing Nino desperately trying to match it. Trying to hide his own doubts.

Sho’s heart pounded as soon as he heard the drumming start. Clan Matsumoto was welcoming them all to the castle. Nino had ordered his crew to remain with the Niji, to keep her ready to depart from Kaido Harbor on short notice. But the harbor was not exactly close. A retreat would still take a little time. It was only the four of them who stepped off of the boat and onto the dock.

Unlike the other clans, Nino refused to travel with an honor guard or any sort of guards. Some probably thought it was the plight of a country hick, assuming Clan Ninomiya couldn’t afford proper guards. Others probably thought it was a strategy, for the clan to remind everyone of their history as a peacemaker. Attacking an unarmed Ninomiya noble was a prelude to war. For Nino, the answer was simple. 

“Our Light Guardians have always been enough.”

Sho hoped that would be true, standing back as Nino walked up the dock, Ohno close behind. The Matsumoto servants got onto the boat, hurrying to retrieve Nino’s belongings. Sho followed Ohno, and Aiba brought up the rear, the pockets under his robe full of his miniature light bombs. Sho hoped that the Stormclouds’ reputation was enough to keep curious onlookers from attempting to search them or come close for that matter.

Sho’s breath caught at the top of the stairs. “Lord Ninomiya, rooms have been prepared for you and your…guests on the floor above. If you’d be so kind to follow me.”

After fifteen years, there was still that no-nonsense chill to Madame Kaga’s voice. Sho tried to walk steadily, desperate not to give himself away. This had been a silly plan from the start, sneaking him and Aiba into the castle right under the clan’s noses. And the servants to boot. Even after fifteen years, they still looked the same, minus the baby fat and optimism of youth. 

Sho kept his head down, focusing on following Ohno up the stairs to a set of chambers in a wing of the palace he’d rarely frequented in the past. So little had changed about Matsumoto Castle in the years he’d been away, although he hadn’t stayed long enough before to realize how different it could feel without a chill in the air. Though the summers were short here, at least there still was one.

The pain that had reached out and taken hold of Sho the night before on the Niji was still with him, a dull ache rather than anything sharp or crushing. Jun was here. Jun was within the walls of this massive fortress…but where? And would Sho be able to do anything about it? How would he know if Jun had been corrupted? How would the goddess help him to distinguish between the pain that might mean Jun needed to be dealt with…and the pain that had always meant Jun needed to be protected?

He and Aiba were shown to a rather simply appointed chamber, not much more than a pair of beds, a chamber pot, and a basin for washing. They said nothing, merely inclining their heads and going inside. There was nothing to do now, not until Nino or Ohno came back with instructions. 

Once they were inside with the door to the small chamber closed, Aiba shrugged the hood off of his head, ruffling his hair. “Ahhhh, it’s so itchy, I wanted to scream.”

“Not so loud,” Sho said as he lowered his own gray hood, whispering. “Do you wish for us to be discovered here so easily?”

“Sorry,” Aiba said, lowering his voice considerably. “I don’t know how the real Stormclouds can stand it.”

“A bit of suffering builds character,” he muttered before stopping. The words had been too familiar, but they’d come so easily.

Then he remembered. 

They were the words of Lady Rinko the night Sho had learned that they were all to set out for Nemuro together. How he longed to go back, to talk Jun out of the expedition. But there was nothing to be done. This was the only life he’d been given. Perhaps this time Sho could do more to save him…if there was still a Jun to be saved.

Ohno came to them an hour later, checking to ensure that the dangerous items Aiba was carrying had made it into the castle safely. They were taking a big risk, bringing undeclared weaponry into another clan’s stronghold. It went against everything Clan Ninomiya stood for, but it was just one more infraction. After all, Nino had gone behind Clan Matsumoto’s back, freeing Sho. He had long harbored Matsuoka and Aiba in his territory as well, even if he hadn’t known the truth about them until recently. Even if Lady Rinko had never sent anyone after them, being within Clan Matsumoto territory again had Aiba acting a bit jumpy.

“There was a welcome letter from Lady Rinko waiting in Nino’s chamber,” Ohno explained. “There is to be a welcome dinner for the Council of Five representatives tonight. That means that only Nino can go, and I’ll have to observe the meal from the sidelines. Presumably Matsumoto Jun will be in attendance for that. However, there will be opportunities for you soon. The Council will meet and hold an open session in the large dining hall for the next two days. It will apparently be open to all attendees, both Council members and their guests.”

“Does Nino think something will happen during one of those sessions?” Aiba asked. “That’s when the most people would be gathered together.”

Ohno nodded. “He thinks that’s far more likely. But we must be vigilant no matter what happens.” He turned. “Sho-kun, will you be alright? If you have to wait until tomorrow to lay your eyes upon him?”

He was torn between giddiness and dread. He was happy to see Jun, to see the man he’d become. But what if that man was consumed with darkness that only Sho might be able to see?

“It’s been a long journey. I’ll be grateful for the chance to rest so I can face whatever is ahead.”

“Be on your guard at all times,” Ohno said again. “If you leave this room, leave it together. Stay together. Don’t wander, Aiba-chan.”

“Oi,” Aiba protested, “why are you singling me out here?”

Ohno raised an eyebrow. “You weren’t planning to find a way to sneak around?”

Aiba rolled his eyes. “I don’t know why everyone always questions my ability to keep a secret…”

Ohno looked between them both. “Stay safe.”

Then they were alone again.

Sho turned to Aiba, crossing his arms. “You won’t get far in this disguise. So I’m assuming you brought something else to wear? Since you’ll likely wait for me to fall asleep and then cause mischief?”

Aiba didn’t even bother to be offended this time. “Don’t call it mischief. Call it intelligence gathering. I was merely going to find my way to the armory and then borrow some things.”

“Borrow like Nino and Satoshi-kun ‘borrowed’ the Lady’s mirror?”

Aiba grinned. “You’re pecking again.”

“Don’t go anywhere,” Sho chided him. “What if you’re caught? You think you know this castle, but you don’t anymore. You don’t know the patrols, you don’t know who is staying in which room…we don’t know anything like we used to.”

“But don’t you want to know where Matsujun is? Maybe I could find where he’s staying…”

“Aiba-kun…”

“Did you forget that he meant something to me, too?” Aiba asked, voice suddenly cold. “Do you think it’s easy for me, listening to Nino talk about having no choice but to kill Matsujun if there’s something wrong with him? Ever since we left Sanukijima, I’ve had this in the back of my head. I refuse to accept that. I refuse to believe that it’s the only way to fix things.”

Sho was stunned into silence, seeing how passionately Aiba was speaking.

“I’ve seen the light that Matsu-nii and I worked so hard to create. I watched that light repel the Shadows. And only yesterday I saw the change in you. Sho-chan, I watched you draw upon light magic in a way nobody else has ever been able to do. Are those not miracles? Are those not the results of the Lady’s blessing? What if it’s the same with Matsujun? What if the Dark Lord has his grip on him, but Matsujun is fighting him?”

Sho looked away. “I…I don’t…”

“I can’t fault Nino for being cautious. If all of us had been more cautious that day, then Matsujun would never have been taken away. But just think about it. Just think about it for a moment, please. He was the most stubborn guy I’ve ever met, and I’m sure you felt the same. How could someone as strong-willed as Matsujun not try and fight back? And how could we just give up on him? Why does it have to be so black and white, after everything we’ve seen and experienced?” Aiba reached out, grabbing hold of Sho’s arm. “Sho-chan, what if the Lady gave you the power to save him?”

The room grew so silent that it was almost believable that two real Stormclouds were inside. Finally Sho was able to find words. 

“Aiba-kun,” he said, the pain in his chest growing the slightest bit stronger. “Nothing I say is going to change your mind. All I ask is that you be careful.”

He felt Aiba’s arms come around him, leaned into it despite his misgivings.

“I will be. I promise that I will be.”

Food arrived for them later, and the evening passed slowly. As Sho ate, he imagined Jun elsewhere in the castle, sitting across the table from the other council representatives. Sitting there at his sister’s side with that cocky attitude, that self-assured look he’d always worn. It ached, knowing after so many years that only a handful of walls now separated them.

Mine to protect. Mine to adore.

Sho’s eyes grew tired. He could tell Aiba was watching him, waiting for him to give in.

“I guess I’ll try and sleep,” he said quietly, wishing he’d be able to tell if Aiba was in trouble, similar to the way he could sense Jun. That, unfortunately, was not possible.

“Good night, Sho-chan,” Aiba said, eventually reducing the room to only one solitary candle.

Sho listened to him slip out of the heavy robe, heard him change into something else. The door opened, so quietly that Sho didn’t know it had happened until he heard the soft click as Aiba closed it behind him.

“Lady of Heaven,” Sho prayed to the empty room. “Please protect him.”

With that, Sho could only turn over, holding tight to the pillow he’d been provided as sleep arrived to claim him.

—

“Will you reject me too, Sakurai Sho?”

Sho woke with a start, shaking off whatever bad dream had consumed him. He struggled to breathe, the bedsheets tangled all around him uncomfortably. Looking over, he could see a lump in the other bunk. Could hear soft snoring.

Thankfully, Aiba had returned.

He turned onto his back, staring up. Morning had come. Today was the day. 

Eventually he heard Aiba stirring, and he got up. “Good adventure?” he asked quietly.

Aiba turned over, pulling the pillow over his head. He had clearly not been back in the room for very long.

Sho couldn’t help going over to him, tugging at the pillow. “Well? Was it worth it? Sneaking about?”

“He’s in his old rooms, that much I was able to discover,” Aiba admitted, voice heavy with sleep. “Seemed like he was entertaining guests, I couldn’t get close.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Sho said.

Together they washed up a little, got back into the heavy, uncomfortable robes. With the yellow Clan Ninomiya pins, they were able to make their way through the halls undisturbed. 

It was Ohno who greeted them at the door, welcoming them inside. Nino was poking unhappily at a breakfast tray on the table before him. He and Aiba took the hoods down, awaiting the latest news. Nino and Ohno had been able to see Jun the night before. What did they think?

Nino said nothing, slowly shoveling rice into his mouth. Ohno stood behind him, back to the wall. Was anyone going to say something?

It was Aiba who lost patience first. “Well? Come on, you sat across from him!”

Ohno brought his finger to his lips. “Ssh, don’t be so loud.”

“I’d never actually met him face to face before,” Nino finally said, setting his bowl down with a heavy thud. “He disappeared when we were both 20. His father had never taken him to Council meetings, so he never came to Kokushi. And I’d never gone to the ones here in Kaido, as my mother didn’t see the point in dragging her children along until we’d come of age. So let’s just say I don’t have a point of reference for the guy whatsoever.”

He looked up, first meeting Aiba’s eyes, then Sho’s.

“He’s a little worse for wear, but he seemed…normal.”

“Really?” Aiba asked, finally managing to keep his voice at a quiet volume. “You’re sure?”

“He gave a speech before the meal,” Nino said. “Thanked us for coming, each clan by name. ‘I know this comes as a shock,’ he told us. ‘I know you may have doubts.’ So he went to each of us, and he shared something. Even if he’d never met me, he’d met my parents. He asked after them, he…” Nino’s voice was full of disbelief. “He remembered Haru.”

“Who’s Haru?” Aiba asked.

“Our dog, the family’s dog. When I was a boy. He hated being separated from my mother, so she always took him along when she left for Council meetings,” Nino admitted. “When Jun-kun was a kid, five or six, he tried sneaking into my mother’s room when she visited Matsumoto Castle. He wanted to pet the dog, since his parents wouldn’t let him have one. My mother…she caught him trying to get inside the cage with Haru. He begged my mother not to tell his parents about it. And she never did. She told me, though. Used it as a lesson, you know, not to break into other people’s rooms. This was something Matsumoto Jun would know, that my mother would know. Something nobody else would have had in their memory.”

“So that’s what you mean by normal?” Sho asked carefully. “That he has Jun’s memories?”

“But is that enough?” Nino asked, eyes worried. “Couldn’t he still be brainwashed? In service to the Dark Lord without realizing it? Feeding us these memories to pacify us?”

“Why are you so quick to doubt him?” Aiba retorted. “Why do you automatically assume it’s all a manipulation?”

“It’s impossible to know either way,” Ohno decided, holding up a hand to avoid an argument. “That’s why we need Sho-kun.”

All three turned to look his way. He could feel that burn, not so strong but always present. 

“I may not have much luck myself,” he said quietly. “All I can do is try.”

They left mid-morning, the four of them, heading for the dining hall, the room Sho remembered. With the fireplace, with the path to the balcony outside. Nino had said that the balance of the day would be given over to Council business, namely the hearing of petitions and grievances from all over the archipelago. This was technically an “emergency” meeting, but the rules allowed for the proceedings to be continued as normal.

“Not that any of the petitioners are coming with actual complaints,” Nino had explained. “They just want to be in that room, to see Jun-kun for themselves and witness the miracle. I have no doubt that some people have nearly bankrupted themselves to make the journey all the way here, just to have a look.” Either way, Nino would be stuck in the dining hall throughout the day, representing his clan as they heard petitions and offered solutions.

Petitioners were lined up out the door and all the way down the hallway when they arrived. “It’s so good to see so many folks interested in how their government works,” Nino joked amiably, noisily as they headed for the door. Sho could tell that he was playing things up, acting as though nothing was amiss. It took a lot of courage.

Clan Matsumoto honor guards were waiting at the door, and Sho could hear a great deal of noise already inside. The various clans and their entourages were packed into the room, the dining hall full of strangers with colored pins the same as the ones he and Aiba had on their own robes. Nobody was going to miss a chance to look upon Matsumoto Jun.

The large round table was empty as Sho, Aiba, and Ohno were escorted to one of the only remaining empty spots in the room. The room was hot, and the robes he wore even more uncomfortable. Being Stormclouds, they were not given the best view of the table. Sho could barely see anything, watching Nino sit down in the seat with the small yellow flag before it, the first Council representative to arrive.

Over the next few minutes more appeared. The elegant Lady Satomi, daughter of Lord Ishihara of Shuhon. The eager Lord Sho of Clan Hirano, his mother’s young heir. Lord Tomoya of Clan Nagase, a large burly man who sat at Nino’s side, full of laughter and jokes in an instant. Of the four clans who’d arrived as guests, only one of the attendees, Lord Tomoya, was the current clan leader. Nino was a second child, but Lady Satomi and Lord Sho were both heirs apparent. Such was the other clans’ trust in Matsumoto Jun that they’d willingly sent the future leaders of their clans to witness the miracle. 

The table meant for five had six chairs today, two of them side by side with a purple flag before them. The places meant for the Matsumoto siblings. Sho frowned, realizing that Rinko and Jun would have their backs to him the entire time. Certainly it was a good thing for Sho’s disguise, but he couldn’t help feeling disappointed. 

Water was poured for the leaders at the table, Nino showing no signs of distress as he laughed with Lord Tomoya beside him. Any other table conversation was hard to discern, the room buzzing with the sight of the still empty chairs. Sho tried not to make any noise when he felt Aiba step on his foot. He turned, annoyed, but saw that Aiba was gesturing with his head toward the fireplace.

Sho did his best to keep his hood from falling, looking where Aiba was telling him to. He held in a breath, seeing the sword inside the glass case.

Fifteen years ago, he and Jun had been alone in this room. It had been cold, empty. The case above the fireplace had been empty then too. Today it wasn’t. Kusanagi, the Sword of Light, was there in the display case, a long curved single-edge blade. Despite its age, the sword gleamed in the morning light, polished to perfection. The Lady’s holy sword, the symbol of peace and power in the archipelago.

How remarkable that this just happened to be one of the years that the sword was being held here in Kaido. How remarkable still that at this very moment, the Lady’s two sacred objects were held here in the same room. Kusanagi, mounted inside the case on the wall to sanction the Council meeting. And the Yata no Kagami, concealed within a pouch that Nino had stitched inside the wide sleeve of his golden yukata.

Sho remembered how dismissive Jun had been about the sword, teasing him. Seeing it now, he was torn between laughter and tears.

But neither of those things happened when the drumming started, a thundering that silenced all conversation in the dining hall. The drumming of Clan Matsumoto. Sho felt Ohno’s hand brush against him, a steadying gesture. There was no turning back.

He prayed silently to Amaterasu, begging for answers. He watched the other Council representatives get to their feet respectfully, saw a placid smile arrive on Nino’s face. Lady of Heaven, Sho thought as the ache in his chest grew, what am I supposed to do?

Lady Rinko arrived first to polite applause, inclining her head to the visitors and shaking the hands of the others at the round table as she made her way to her seat. The years had changed her, as they had changed everyone. There was little of the boldness in her eyes that Sho had remembered. Instead she had the weary look of her father, the cautious look of someone who’d known loss. The look of someone with the heavy responsibility of leadership. And yet, there was a smile at the corner of her lips, a glimpse of satisfaction.

She remained standing in front of her chair, raising a hand. The drumming stopped. The room remained hushed. Sho could only gaze at her back, at her almost relaxed posture. “Council representatives. Honored guests. I thank you all for journeying so far on such short notice. Normally, we don’t have so many well-wishers gathered at Council meetings. It has been my experience over the years that most in the Stormlands find politics dreadfully dull.”

There were a few polite chuckles in response.

“I apologize for my selfish actions in calling this emergency meeting, but I believe in an archipelago ruled by transparency. When something this significant affects one Council clan, it affects them all. While we are gathered here to hear the issues of all our people, I have decided upon the first order of business myself without consulting my colleagues. For that, I hope you will forgive me. And I hope you will join me in giving thanks to the Lady of Heaven who watches over us all with kindness and love. Without the goddess’ light, I would not be able to say the following words: Little brother, come take your seat!”

The room erupted into frenzied clapping, shouts of praise to Amaterasu. Sho’s blood ran cold, hearing such words from Matsumoto Rinko, whose blasphemy had caused so much chaos to begin with. The drumming started up again, louder and more energetic than before. It was a celebratory sound, echoing throughout the castle halls, sending murmurs of excitement through the guests gathered in the dining hall.

Sho kept his eyes open, peering out from beneath the hood as best he could. He would not look away. He owed it to Jun, whether the person who would soon be coming through the doorway was truly him or not.

The applause within the room almost overwhelmed the drumming in the hall, people around Sho, Aiba and Ohno jostling for a better spot. Guests of the other clans elbowed him aside, all but shoving him and Aiba back further toward the wall. They were separated from Ohno, unable to protest. The treatment was irritating, if not surprising. The Stormclouds didn’t need that good a view, did they?

Lord Tomoya led out a raucous cheer, and Sho’s chest burned. He desperately tried to look, peering over the shoulder of a taller man, hot in the borrowed robes. Let me see him, Sho thought frantically, the crowd only pushing him further back. Why won’t you let me see him?

Honor guards came in, urging them to stay back. Sho’s back hit the wall, and he stood on his tiptoes, trying to see through the people in front of him, tilting his head to look around one of the guards’ helmets. By the time the drumming stopped, he could only see the back of a man’s head as he stood at Lady Rinko’s side. Broad shoulders and a solid, muscular body inside a fine violet yukata. Black hair cropped short. A hand waving cheerily to those gathered in the dining hall.

Turn around, Sho begged, chest aching. He soon got his wish, the man turning to quickly wave and nod in appreciation to those gathered behind him.

Prayers of thanks were shouted to the Lady while he heard a few stifled gasps from others. A face that had once been sharp in its youth had softened with age. Dark eyes, thick eyebrows. A large mouth, a big smile. Features that had finally been grown into after fifteen long years. No longer a delicate, impulsive boy, but a healthy, steady adult. 

But that familiar pale skin was marred from his time in the Dark Realm. Sho felt tears rolling down his cheeks at the dark, angry lines that cris-crossed the face of the person he’d loved. Black scars that continued down his neck, disappearing into his yukata. 

Sho was reminded of the Kaido snows, the wide open fields of Nemuro Province. The crisp white snow disturbed by the ribbons of Shadow black just before they’d torn Jun away from him.

Lady of Heaven, what had happened to him?

He turned back to the table, waiting for the cheers to die down before he spoke. The voice was the same, but different. It had deepened with age, but Sho could still hear him somehow. He could hear the person who’d walked into his family’s receiving hall and laughed.

“Thank you all, truly. Thank you. Thank you so much.” 

He raised his hands for quiet, clearly embarrassed at the uproar his arrival had caused. Sho could see more of the black scarring there, all along the hands that he’d known, had held in his own. There were so many scars. So many scars.

“I apologize for all the inconvenience,” Matsumoto Jun said, addressing the dozens of people crammed into the room. “I’m no one so important in the grand scheme of things, but it was my sister’s belief that you might want to see me, scars and all. To know that I am alive. That I’ve been given a second chance. To show you all that anything is possible.”

Sho shut his eyes, letting the voice that was both familiar and not seep into his bones. His chest ached, but hadn’t it always? Hadn’t it always where Jun was concerned? He sounded so strong, so humble. 

And scarring aside, he seemed completely…normal.

“I also apologize that I have no elaborate explanation for what allows me to stand before you today,” Jun continued, his voice sounding almost like a politician’s. “I have no stories to share with you about where I have been or what I may have seen. Those memories were stolen. All I remember from that horrible place is terror. And darkness. But as I stand before you, restored to my place here in Kaido, it is my belief that the Lady of Heaven granted salvation to one of her strongest opponents. In my youth, I turned away from her light. But here I am, alive despite fifteen years of darkness, proof of her kindness and grace.”

Words Sho never thought he’d hear from the lips of Matsumoto Jun.

“We cannot overstate the importance of what has happened here,” Lady Rinko said, addressing the room in a commanding voice. “The Lady has saved a sinner, restored him to our family. I am no less a sinner than Jun beside me, and I thank Amaterasu from the bottom of my heart for showing mercy. May all of us affected by the Dark Lord’s cruelty take comfort in this. I pray that my brother is only the first to be restored, and that families across our great nation will soon know the joy I have known since he was returned to us. Thank you for allowing us this time today.”

At that, both Lady Rinko and Jun bowed low to all in attendance, a humble gesture that started a chain reaction of more prayers, shouts of thanks to the goddess.

Sho could only watch Jun’s back, memorizing the new shape and sound of him, reconciling it with the memories he’d been carrying for years and years. People shouted out questions. What day did you return? Do you truly not remember? Did the Lady speak to you? Do you think she might save more of us?

Eventually Lady Rinko had to call for calm. Despite it all, the rapid-fire questions and his acknowledgment that his answers were likely insufficient, Jun didn’t break under the pressure, speaking with honesty and calm. Every so often, Sho would be able to see between the Matsumoto siblings, could see Nino on the other side of the table. 

Nino who was trying to find Sho in the crowd without drawing attention, desperate for answers. Desperate to know if Sho could see something he couldn’t.

But all he felt was that old pain, the pain he’d come to miss. The urge to keep Jun safe, to protect him at all costs. This was no spy. There was no dark undercurrent to any of his words. His tone was heartfelt, sincere. 

Nino’s answer, then, would be simple. The man standing before them, answering the torrent of questions thrown at him, was a sleeper agent. Under the Dark Lord’s control without him knowing it. Nothing but a pawn sent here for an as yet unknown purpose. Someone to be eliminated at the first sign of trouble - a sacrifice to save the lives of many more.

But Aiba’s answer would not be so simple, would it? 

Perhaps it was really Jun standing here, memories erased with only scars left behind from years of torment and suffering. If that was so, then Sho wanted nothing more than to be near him, to protect him and keep him safe for the rest of his days.

Or perhaps the man at the round table was the Dark Lord’s unwitting accomplice, speaking with Jun’s voice, drawing somehow from Jun’s memories while the real Jun was trapped somewhere - in his own body? In his own mind? Somewhere in the Dark Realm? Was it not worth the effort to try and save him if that was the case?

Sho didn’t know. Sho had absolutely no idea, just as he’d feared from the very start. There was nothing about the man before him that felt…wrong. It had been fifteen years after all. Everyone changed. But there was enough of the person Sho had known, enough to be truly convincing.

“I’ve taken more than enough of everyone’s time,” Jun said, almost shyly, bowing once more. “Please, I wish for the Council to hear the concerns of the people.”

“Will you stay with us?” Lady Satomi asked. “Will you join us as we hear the petitioners, Lord Jun? Many of them are surely waiting to have a look at you so they might be able to report back to their hometowns about this miracle.”

Jun let out a soft laugh. Sho could remember Jun’s younger self, the sparkle he’d always had in his eyes when he was surrounded by his admirers. Sho already knew what the answer would be.

“Of course I’ll stay.”

Sho bit his lip, wishing there was something more he could do. Wishing that all the faith Nino had put in him might actually be worthwhile.

He stood there, crushed against the wall, surrounded by warm, giddy bodies. Petitioner after petitioner came through. The Council indulged them as they entered one by one, offering silly comments before getting to the point and wishing to address Jun and ask questions. Many in the halls had been too far away to hear him earlier, but Jun was patient, answering the same things over and over again. Some of the petitioners even asked for him to bless them, but Jun waved them off in embarrassment.

“It is the Lady of Heaven you should be asking,” he replied.

There was a break for lunch, and the Council members rose, moving to speak with their guests. Sho tried to move forward, tried to find his way to Ohno. He saw the Light Guardian move, gracefully dodging the fawning guests who moved in a rush toward Jun. 

“Keep order here,” the guards demanded. 

By the time Sho was able to find Ohno, purely by recognizing his trousers, the room had started to clear out. “He’s already gone,” Ohno said quietly, hand pressed to Sho’s back. “The guards escorted him away to keep the crowd from overwhelming him.”

“Brothers, what a blessed day,” Nino announced in a cheerful voice, as though nothing was amiss. “I’m sure you’ll be wanting to pray. Please, I’ll be in meetings the rest of the day. My Light Guardian will take you to my chambers where you can have peace and quiet.”

Nino lowered his voice.

“Oh-chan, get them out of here.”

He followed Ohno into the hall, past the throng of petitioners still lined up. He only knew Aiba was behind them because Sho could hear his labored breathing. 

They were just at the door to Nino’s chambers when a loud voice called to them. Sho didn’t recognize the voice, but he’d know a guard’s command when he heard it.

“Halt there.”

Sho froze, unsure what to do but keeping his eyes to the ground.

“Is something wrong?” Ohno asked smoothly, turning around. 

“The Stormclouds with you. The shorter one has to come with us.”

Sho almost breathed a sigh of relief. They wanted him. Aiba would be safe. His earlier sneaking had not been discovered then…

“Surely there’s been a mistake, sir,” Ohno continued, voice unwavering. “These men are the guests of Lord Ninomiya…”

“I have my orders, Light Guardian. Please escort the other gentleman to his chamber and return to your lord in the dining hall.”

“What has this man done wrong? What shall I tell Lord Ninomiya?” Ohno’s voice grew more insistent. “If you’re taking him away for questioning, you won’t get very far, you know…the members of his community take a vow of silence and…”

“I won’t ask again.”

Sho stepped forward, the hood still covering his face.

He heard the noise of boots and soon there were guards to either side of him, grip strong on his arms.

“Lord Ninomiya will hear of this,” Ohno vowed.

Lady of Heaven, Sho thought, don’t let them do anything stupid.

—

Sho allowed the guards to haul him away. They made no move to remove his hood, simply taking him downstairs. He stayed silent, knowing that breaking character would only get Nino in more trouble. He tried to visualize where they were taking him, the route they were following through the castle. 

His initial thought was that they were taking him to a prison cell, that somehow Madame Kaga had recognized him when he’d arrived, hood and all. Or perhaps one of the other servants. But instead they brought him down the long stairs, down into the grotto by the docks. His confusion grew, but the pain in his chest did not increase or decrease. Jun was not in immediate danger then…but he couldn’t say the same for his friends. For Ohno and Nino and Aiba.

He was escorted all along the docks, hearing the sounds of boats being rowed to and fro in the canal. But the wooden planks under his feet soon gave way to hard-packed dirt. A winding path Sho had come to know by heart years earlier.

The alchemy lab.

He heard the swing of the metal door at the end of the path, the guards tugging him inside. Sho sensed an immediate change in the air. The pain in his chest still lingered, but there was something else…something more…

“My lord, we brought the shorter one.”

Sho felt lightheaded when he heard the response.

“I apologize for the vague instructions,” Matsumoto Jun said. “Thank you.”

“Lord Ninomiya will protest…”

“Tell him he’s done nothing wrong. That his other guests have done nothing wrong either. They are not under suspicion. Only this man here.”

“But this man is from the Stormcloud cult. It is unlikely he will answer your questions…”

He heard a low, rumbling laugh come from Jun. “Let me worry about that.”

“And if Lady Rinko inquires?”

“If Ninomiya complains to my sister about the breach of guest protocol and she demands answers, you will tell her that I am personally ridding the castle of a dangerous individual. I did the work her security team failed to do. Let her absorb that, and let her explain to Ninomiya that his own security team failed him too. Not that such half-assed vetting is all that surprising coming from Kokushi…”

“My lord, if this man is dangerous, let us bring him to a cell for a proper interrogation…”

“No, you will not lay a finger on him again. He is mine to deal with.” Sho heard Jun’s voice soften a little. It was the voice Sho remembered from those parties, though it had deepened with age. The facade Jun wore for so long to deceive his father. “Really, Oguri, did you forget so quickly that you only serve on the honor guard because of me?”

“My lord, I’ve always been grateful for that…”

“And Fujiwara, did you forget so quickly that I was the one who had your father released from prison all those years ago?”

The other guard’s response was quiet. “No, my lord. I have not forgotten your kindness.”

Jun’s voice switched in an instant, turning ice cold. “Then leave us. I suggest you remember the orders I’ve just given you, because you certainly won’t like the consequences of disobeying me.”

“Yes, my lord,” the two guards said quickly. Sho heard them turn around, closing the door to the lab behind them.

Now they were alone.

Sho stayed where he was, eyes to the floor, trembling. He could hear the lazy scuff of sandals against the floor, could smell a woodsy cologne. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know what to think. Jun started to circle him, was only an arm’s length away now. His steps were slow, measured as he walked around Sho. And yet the pain near his heart remained steady, constant. What was Amaterasu trying to say?

Finally Jun stopped, standing behind him. Sho bit his lip hard enough to draw blood when he felt a ticklish finger trace across the breadth of his shoulders, down his spine. Even through the heavy, uncomfortable robe, his body craved Jun’s touch.

“Rin-chan lied to me,” Jun whispered softly. “She told me you were dead. She smiled when she spoke those words to me. My own sister.”

Sho refused to speak. He didn’t feel he was in any immediate danger, though he feared what might happen to Nino and Ohno and Aiba.

“But still, I’ve performed for her as I performed for my father so many years ago. It surprises me that she doesn’t see through it. I smile. I wave. I’ve let her trot me out from town to town. The Miracle at Kaido. The one Amaterasu saved, the great sinner Matsumoto Jun. I do what she asks of me, the doting little brother, as if I’ve forgotten what really happened in Nemuro. I may not remember what happened all those years I was gone, but I will never forget what happened there that day…”

Sho’s heart was pounding as Jun’s hands tightened around his upper arms, hard enough to be painful. He’d grown so much stronger than he’d ever been before. Jun’s voice quivered with barely suppressed anger.

“Rin-chan said you took sole responsibility, even though I remember that it was her idea. It was her idea and I followed her willingly into that field. You were only trying to protect me…you said again and again to go back, and I refused to listen. I always made things so difficult for you. Didn’t I, Sho-san?”

Sho brought his shaking hand to his mouth, desperately holding in a sob.

“And yet she pinned it all on you. She told me with a smile how my father punished you, how he hurt you, how he sent you away. How you were left there to rot and finally died from the weight of your guilt.” He heard Jun’s voice catch in his throat. “She said the goddess had seen justice done, as though I would agree with her.”

Jun took a step back, finally releasing him.

“But you’re not dead. I never believed it, no matter what she told me. No matter how many times she said it these last few months. If you were dead…I’d know.” Jun cleared his throat, trying to calm down. “I’d know if you were gone.”

It was quiet in the old lab for several moments before Jun finally sighed, the good humor Sho remembered returning to his voice.

“I don’t know how you came to be in Ninomiya’s company, but it seems I owe the man a debt of gratitude.” Sho felt a poke to his spine. “Come on. Come on now, Sho-san, I know it’s really you under there.”

He said nothing.

“Do you know how hard it was to walk into that room today and see you crammed back in the corner in this silly robe? Do you know how hard I had to concentrate to keep from laughing?”

Still, he said nothing. Finally Jun’s impatience forced him to act. Jun came around to face him, and he yanked at the hood of Sho’s robe, pulling it back. Exposing him, exposing the truth. Sho stared at the ground, but he heard Jun’s soft moan of relief.

“I felt you…I…I don’t know how to explain it…a few nights ago, it was like I just knew you were close. Somehow I knew you were coming back to me. Last night, I walked the whole castle searching for you. I was desperate to find you. Sho-san, I feel this pain in my chest now, ever since the other night, and that was how I was able to find you. I let the pain guide me to your room. I wanted to open the door right then, to see if it was true, but I didn’t have the courage. Everything Rin-chan said…I couldn’t bear it if she’d been right all along. So instead I asked around, and I was told the people in that room were Lord Ninomiya’s guests. There were two of you in the dining hall today, but I could tell which one was you in an instant. This pain was like a thread connecting us. And honestly it’s only grown stronger since we’ve been standing here together and…”

Sho somehow found the strength to look up, finding a pale face fractured in several places by thin ribbons of black. Like a shattered piece of pottery that had been mended with a different colored lacquer, refusing to disguise its imperfections. Black scars of survival. Jun had survived. Whatever he’d endured, Jun had survived. 

“I’m here, Jun. I’m sorry it took so long, but I’m here.”

He reached out his hand, Jun’s eyes closing as Sho’s fingers traced along the scars. 

“Where do you feel pain?” he asked gently, unable to stay quiet a moment longer. “Tell me exactly where.”

Jun brought his right hand to his heart. “Here. Here, the same place you always touched when you used your magic. The place where you had your brand.”

“You feel it now?”

Jun nodded. “What does it mean?”

“I don’t know…but I feel it too. I started feeling it the day I met you.” He took a breath, admitting the truth to Jun for the very first time. “When I lost you, the pain left me. But now it’s come back.”

“No wonder you were always so grouchy,” Jun teased softly. “If you felt like this every day…”

Sho searched Jun’s reddened eyes, desperate for a sign. Desperate for proof. Everything pointed to the man before him being Matsumoto Jun. His Jun. But lingering in the back of his mind, he could still hear Nino’s voice. Nino’s doubts.

Could the man before him be Jun and the Dark Lord’s pawn at the same time?

“What are we going to do?” Sho asked him.

“Well, I haven’t slept with anyone for fifteen years, so I thought maybe we could start there.”

“Jun,” he protested, even as the playful words sent heat through him.

“Look, I haven’t thought that far ahead yet,” Jun admitted. “I’ve been consumed with the need to find you first.”

“Well. You’ve found me now,” Sho said. “And since you’ve told your honor guards I’m a dangerous person, it’s not like you can send me back to Lord Ninomiya.”

Jun cracked a smile. “I’ve missed your constant disapproval.”

“This is serious…”

Jun rested his hands on his shoulders. “I know, I know. Ugh, damn this robe is scratchy. You’ll have to tell me another time how you let Ninomiya talk you into wearing it…”

“If I am discovered here…”

“The Council meeting will be over in a few days,” Jun said. “Rin-chan wants me to keep putting in appearances, wants me to keep responding to questions from all the curious commoners. I’ll do whatever she wants, and then when it’s over, I’ll ask Ninomiya to stay. We’ll meet privately, Ninomiya, Rin-chan, you and me…we’ll figure out a way forward. But I’m not letting you go. And I’m not going to let Rin-chan retaliate against Clan Ninomiya.”

“And in the meantime?”

“You’ll stay in here. I’ll have Oguri and Fujiwara bring you food, blankets…I’ll…I’ll tell them you won’t talk yet, but that I’m trying to break you, to get you to reveal your secret…plot…”

Sho frowned. “My what?”

Jun tugged on the sleeve of Sho’s robe, clearly making things up on the fly. “You’re one of those crazy cultists, right? Maybe you believe the goddess spoke to you, that she sent you here to kill me. That my return was no miracle and that I’m evil or something…”

Sho froze. “Wait…”

“It’s just a cover story to explain why I haven’t executed you already. I’m trying to get the truth out of you, to make sure nobody else is after me,” Jun said, waving his hand dismissively. “Those guards owe their livelihoods to me, so they’ll do whatever I say. Just…keep wearing the stupid robe so they’re none the wiser when they stop in. I’ll come to you at night, let you know what’s happening. I promise, I’ll speak to Ninomiya or his Light Guardian, I’ll give him my thanks and I’ll tell him you’re safe and not to worry. And then we’ll figure out what to do when the Council meeting is over.”

How was Nino going to react to this? What about Ohno? Or Aiba? Even with Sho out of the picture for now, they still had the Yata no Kagami with them. They still had Aiba’s miniaturized light bombs. They had back-up plans. Lady of Heaven, what were they going to do?

“Sho?”

He saw Jun’s hand wave before his face.

“Sho,” Jun repeated. “Don’t be afraid. We’ve found each other again. Everything is going to work out somehow.”

The sudden sharp pang in his chest proclaimed otherwise. Did you feel that, he wanted to ask Jun. Do you feel it as I feel it?

Jun took his face between his scarred hands, clearly undeterred. “Please don’t leave this room. Please promise me.”

“We are Bonded,” Sho said quietly, anxiety flooding through him. “You know I must obey you.”

“I was asking nicely,” Jun mumbled, searching his eyes. “For once, I was only asking.”

Sho didn’t want him to go. Sho didn’t want to face the future, not yet. Not now when they were here, like this, with nobody else in the world to interfere.

He wanted to kiss him, kiss Jun with fifteen years of missing him. Wanted to take a moment to be selfish after so long. He could see in Jun’s face that he wanted to do the same. 

“You will be missed,” Sho told him instead. “In the castle. They will be looking for you if you continue to linger here.”

“From the day we met, all you’ve done is worry about me.” Jun smiled sadly, using his thumb to wipe a tear from the corner of Sho’s eye. “You haven’t changed at all.”

Sho couldn’t find it in his heart to say the same, not when so much was still uncertain. 

“Go,” Sho said. 

Jun stepped back, and Sho could see how it pained him to do it.

“I’ll come back,” Jun vowed.

He turned, walking away. The heavy door was pulled closed behind him. 

Sho sat down awkwardly, almost falling to the floor, unable to stay standing on his shaking legs. All he could do was breathe in. Breathe out. 

Press a hand to his heart and pray for answers.

—

The old lab had been turned into a storage space. All of the ingredients Matsuoka and Aiba had gathered, the targets. The work tables and sofas. The chalkboard where Jun’s ideas had come to life. All of it was gone and in its place were spare parts for the boats in the grotto. Thick coils of rope, wooden oars. 

It was a few hours before he even had a pot to piss in. The two guards arrived with little fanfare, dumping a pot and a few blankets on the floor, sending up a cloud of dust. Sho approached cautiously, saying nothing as they set down a meal tray on top of a supply crate.

He heard one of the guards lift the lid off of the food, heard him spit on it. The lid hit the floor with a noisy clang that made Sho jump and the guards laugh. Jun had ordered them not to touch him, but it seemed that didn’t quite extend to his meal.

They left without saying anything, slamming the door behind them.

Sho let down the hood with a sigh, tugging the robe off of himself. He didn’t think they were coming back any time soon now that they’d carried out Jun’s orders. His skin was itchy as he set the robe down on another crate, moving to the meal tray. Rice and miso soup, cold. He assumed that the spit had gone into the soup so he left it, scooping bits of rice into his mouth with his fingers. Apparently he wasn’t entitled to any chopsticks, if he was the potential assassin Jun was going to claim he was.

A single torch had already been lit when he’d been brought to the lab earlier, as Jun had been here waiting for his arrival. He lifted it from the holder, wandering through the large open space, looking for the best place to sleep. It seemed he would be stuck in here for a few days while the Council meeting continued in the castle above him. 

He settled the blankets in a dry corner, helping himself to a few more sheets that had been placed on top of some crates to make himself a bit more comfortable. He sat down, chuckling to himself. No windows, sparse light. All he was missing was the spring poking his back, and it was just like being back in solitary confinement at Nakodojima. Then again, to his knowledge the guards there never spat in his food.

He tried his best to relax, knowing that escaping this room would betray Jun. Knowing that escaping this room could cause harm to his friends. The pain in his chest had not changed, not since he’d been left alone here. But if it did, that would be different. Then he’d run. He’d run to Jun no matter the consequences.

He prayed. He prayed. And he prayed some more.

At some point, his eyes started to itch. He had no sense of time, but it had been hours since he’d eaten the rice. Jun had promised to return at night, but he had no way of knowing when. Sho forced himself back into the uncomfortable robe, pulling the hood up and blankets on top of him. If Jun was delayed, the guards might get cocky, come back to take the tray away, have a look at him.

He was tired. It was so hard to keep his eyes open. He did his best to curl up in the blankets. Maybe he’d just…have a nap…

Come back to me…

He woke with a start from a bad dream. “Jun,” he murmured, waking in total darkness, sitting up suddenly and colliding with someone.

“Ow…”

He panicked, worrying he’d given himself away. He was on the verge of putting his hand to his heart, calling upon the new, strange power Amaterasu had given him to defend himself against the intruder. But then he woke more fully, realizing that it was the pain in his chest that had woken him up.

He felt a hand against him, warm against his face, his neck. He knew this hand.

“Sho. Sho, it’s just me. It’s okay, you’re safe.”

He laid back, exhaling in relief. “I...I’m sorry…I fell asleep…”

“I’d hope so,” Jun said quietly. “It’s only a few hours before dawn now.”

He heard Jun’s teasing laugh. Sho had almost forgotten how much he loved it.

“You were really snoring,” Jun told him. “You sounded like an old man.”

Sho shut his eyes, feeling Jun’s fingers stroke along his face gently. It still didn’t feel real. After so many years apart, feeling Jun’s touch brought tears to his eyes.

“I missed you,” he admitted. 

“Aww,” Jun laughed. “I missed you too. I probably could have picked a cozier spot to stash you…”

“No,” Sho choked out. “No, that’s not what I mean. I _missed_ you. Every day for fifteen years I missed you. It’s foolish, you’ll say, we only knew one another a handful of months. But I couldn’t stop missing you. I…I was prepared to spend the rest of my life missing you…”

He heard the rustling of the blankets, felt Jun tug them off of him. His hands moved for the heavy robe, and Sho helped him take it off, take off everything he wore beneath it. Sho didn’t make a fuss, letting Jun move on top of him. He gave in to selfishness, he gave in to weakness. 

He heard his name, he reached for Jun in the dark. He reached out and took from Jun what he thought he’d never have again. His body had changed. Despite everything, he’d grown up. He’d grown so strong. Sho didn’t need any light, tracing Jun’s skin with his fingers. He could feel the scars, could feel how Jun had been hurt. He kissed them, every one he could find, every mark the Dark Lord had left behind. It was a blessing that Jun couldn’t remember how they’d gotten there, the agony he’d likely suffered for so many years. It was a blessing that he didn’t know.

He felt Jun’s touch along his chest, his fingers pausing just above his heart. “Did she lie about this too?” Jun asked, his voice a heady mixture of lust and concern. “Did Rin-chan lie about your brand?”

“No. No, I was scarred for years. But the Lady of Heaven healed me. She restored the brand, and in that moment, the old pain returned to me,” he explained, moaning softly as Jun’s mouth and tongue traced along his red sun in the dark. “And for the first time, it seems…it seems she gave that same pain to you.”

“Good,” Jun said, twining their hands together, pressing kisses to his neck, his mouth. Making up for the time they’d lost. “That pain brought you back to me, and I’ll bear it for the rest of my life if it always helps me find you.”

He chuckled softly, unable to help himself.

“What?” Jun complained, pinching him. “What’s so funny about my sincere and heartfelt words, you ungrateful Light Guardian?”

Sho smiled. After so long, he truly smiled despite his tears. “You’ve matured, my lord.”

“Oh,” Jun said with a laugh of his own. “That’s a generous compliment from someone like you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Shut up, would you?”

He pushed aside the pain, pushed aside the doubt. This was Jun. No matter what happened tomorrow or in the days to come, this man here…tonight…this man was Jun. And Jun wanted him. How could he say no? 

Words and jokes eventually gave way to soft cries, to frantic kisses and gasping breaths in the dark.

If they only had now, then Sho would savor it. Every fucking second.

—

The days were long, uncertain, waiting for Jun to return with news. The nights were comparatively shorter, their time together limited by Jun’s ability to sneak away to be with him. Because of the sheer number of people seeking an audience before the Council, Lady Rinko had extended the session another day. The other Council members had agreed to stay in Kaido.

Jun was at his side now, under the blankets, fingers stroking along Sho’s neck absent-mindedly. “Your Lord Ninomiya was the sole dissenting vote. Claimed there was some business deal requiring his attention back home.”

“Hmm,” Sho mused. “That sounds like him.”

“I convinced him to stay, but he’s growing impatient,” Jun admitted. “He keeps demanding to see you. I don’t think he believes me when I say that you’re safe.”

“He paid a lot of money to free me from that prison. I’m sure he’s just interested in his investment.”

“It was kind of him to free you,” Jun muttered, finger moving downward, teasing at Sho’s collarbone.

“It was,” Sho agreed.

Thus far, he hadn’t told Jun the whole truth of the situation. It hurt him to do it, to hide and conceal, but he felt there was no choice. Jun had found him, thanks to the power of their Bonding. But if he discovered that Aiba was here inside the castle walls as well, surely he’d grow suspicious of Nino’s motives in bringing them both here. He needed to keep his friends safe.

For now, it was best that Jun thought that Nino had only freed Sho out of the kindness of his heart. That he’d wanted nothing more than to reunite them. Maybe in the future Sho could tell him the truth, could apologize for the lying and misdirection. But things were still so uncertain. For all that this man looked, felt, smelled, sounded, tasted like Jun, Sho’s chest still hurt. Every minute in Jun’s company it lingered, that pain. A reminder that Jun was still in danger. 

But from what? The Dark Lord? Something or someone else entirely? When would the Lady give him an answer? When would he be able to relax? Would he ever feel that Jun was truly safe? That Jun was truly not corrupted?

The not knowing grew scarier and scarier with each minute they were apart. But Jun would return, smiling despite his scars, happy to be in Sho’s company. Happy to carve out any time away from the demands of the guests roaming the castle, all those visitors who wanted to look upon him and see the result of the Lady’s commitment to her people. And in those moments together Sho was able to push away his doubts, give in to his selfish need to be with him. 

Sho told Jun about the aftermath of that day in Nemuro, everything but Matsuoka and Aiba’s desertion. He told Jun about what Lord Hideo had done. He told Jun about Nakodojima, the long years of loneliness and sorrow. He told Jun everything he felt it was safe to tell him, even if all of it was sad. Jun would listen, Jun would hold him, if only for a short time.

But then Jun would leave, and Sho would be alone with only his thoughts and worries for company. Warning himself that this still might be a trick, an illusion to lull him into complacency. That everything Nino feared was about to come true. That the Jun who touched him, kissed him, and made love with him was nothing but a lie, and that the Lady of Heaven had only given Sho these new and frightening powers in order to defeat him. 

He practiced when Jun was away, pressing his hand to his heart. He extinguished the torch, set it aflame again. He burned holes into the walls, pushed crates in front of them in order to hide them. He sent the gentlest of beams into the ceiling high above, the stone crumbling, falling to join the dust on the floor of the old lab. It was nothing like hitting the targets in the yard of his home on Isejima. He could feel real power, true power bubbling within him. Ready to be unleashed with only a hand to his heart and a thought of light made manifest.

“I want to look at the stars with you again.”

Sho turned, moving onto his side so he could look at Jun. “What’s that?”

“I thought about it a lot when I first came back. I was frightened,” Jun admitted. “I was miserable. But I had my memories of you. No matter what Rin-chan said about you, she couldn’t take that from me. I’d stand out on the balcony those first few weeks, upstairs. When they finally left me alone for the day. When they stopped asking questions about who I was and where I’d been and what I’d felt on the other side of the veil. When I could try and remember what it was like to just be me, not the Jun that the Lady had rescued. I’d stand on the balcony, and I’d remember the way you looked when you looked at the sky.”

He felt his face redden. “The way I looked?”

“I’ve never seen anyone look at the stars the way you do. With such love.”

“I’ve always taken comfort in them,” he said. “Even on a dark night, the Lady’s light was still with me, no matter how faint or far away. I could always find at least one star, and that was enough. I know you find such things foolish, but it’s what I’ve always felt.”

“As silly as it sounds, I think you became that star for me. You were out there somewhere, I just knew it. I knew you couldn’t be dead, but you were just the star I couldn’t find yet. I’d stand there, I’d look up. Come back to me, I said.”

Sho’s mouth went dry. 

Jun turned, moving onto his back in embarrassment. “And you did. You did come back to me.”

“When did you say those words? Those exact words?”

“Don’t make me say it again…this is stupid…I can’t believe I even told you…”

“I heard you.”

He saw Jun’s brown eyes look up at him. “What?”

“In the middle of the second month when I was still in Nakodojima Prison, I was struck down with a mysterious illness. I nearly…died…”

“You nearly died?!” Jun exclaimed, not happy to be hearing about this only now.

“I didn’t, obviously,” Sho replied. “But when I was ill, when I spent days and days fighting against the nightmares the fever sent me, I heard you. I heard your voice, even though I hadn’t heard you in fifteen years. In those dreams, you said ‘come back to me.’ Those words exactly.”

Jun shivered. “What does all this mean?”

“I think that your return to the Stormlands reactivated the Bonding between us. You may have come back through the portal with no memory of what happened to you there.” Sho dragged a finger down Jun’s arm, along one of his scars. “But I told you I’ve always felt pain when you were in danger, when you might be hurt. It’s obvious that you suffered there, in the Dark Realm, but I never felt it. As soon as you were taken away, the pain in my chest went away too.”

Jun let out a soft, thoughtful ‘hmm.’ “So maybe…me coming back dumped fifteen years’ worth of pain on you all at once? Maybe that’s why you got so ill?”

“Maybe,” he said. “Nothing between us has ever been simple, Jun. Our Bonding isn’t like any other I’ve heard of before.”

“I don’t like it,” Jun replied. “I don’t like how we’ve been manipulated and toyed with our entire lives. We lost fifteen years. Fifteen years, Sho, and we’re never getting them back. When will we be left alone? When will we be allowed to live normally? I just want to be me. And I just want you to be you.”

At Jun’s words, at ‘I just want to be me,’ Sho felt a sharp pain squeeze his heart, shutting his eyes.

“It seems that the Lady has always had other plans for us,” he mumbled.

They were quiet for a while, Jun’s hand reaching for his, squeezing and holding tight. 

“It will be morning soon,” Sho said, bringing their joined hands to his lips, pressing a kiss to Jun’s knuckles. “You should go.”

“I know,” was Jun’s murmured response, but he made no effort to move.

He smiled gently. “One of us ought to go upstairs to enjoy a proper breakfast.”

Jun let out a soft growl of complaint. “I’d rather have you.”

He moved then, and Sho let him, let Jun push him onto his back. Soon he was moaning quietly, Jun lightly nipping at his neck before leaving a kiss in apology. They both could sense the passage of time, the minutes slipping away again. Jun’s kisses grew more desperate.

“I need you…”

“You know you can’t stay…” But even as he said it, his body disagreed with him. He returned every kiss, fingers tightening in Jun’s hair. He couldn’t bear it, another day alone in his horrible, isolated room, their uncertain future.

“Please Sho…” 

“Okay.” He simply nodded. “Okay.”

Jun had brought a vial of oil with him the other night to make things more comfortable. Sho fumbled around for it, finding it buried in the blankets, pressing it into his hand. But even with it, Sho groaned softly, eyes shut tight. The blankets were thin, and there was no mattress here. His body was forced to absorb the impact, and he clung to Jun, knowing he’d have bruises when they were done. They were older now, and the years had not been very kind.

Jun seemed to sense his discomfort, slowing a bit, moving them so they were sitting up instead, still joined. But before Jun started to move once more, Sho could see a change in his eyes, a sudden haunted look. He could feel Jun’s arms tighten around him, almost afraid to let him go.

“What’s wrong?” Sho murmured.

Jun removed one hand from Sho’s back, pressing it against the red sun on his chest. “Did you feel it? Just now?”

“Feel what?” He stroked his fingers across Jun’s scarred face. The pain in Sho’s chest, the ache that never went away…nothing had changed. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

He looked into Jun’s dark eyes, seeking answers in the shadowy torchlight. But then Jun simply shook his head, laughing softly. “Never mind…never mind, I’m sorry.”

“Jun…”

His concerns were ignored, Jun leaning forward to kiss his questions away. To move up and against him, again and again until Sho was grateful for their isolation, crying out wordlessly. He saw stars of a different kind. Not the Lady’s light in the heavens above but the stars that only they shared. Jun squeezed him tight, movements strong and demanding before letting out a pained gasp that Sho had never heard from him before.

They sat there, breathing in the faint light, Jun’s face pressed against the side of his neck. He was shaking.

“Jun…”

“…I’m fine…”

“You don’t sound…”

“I said that I’m fine,” he snapped quickly, regretting it in an instant. “I’m sorry.” He leaned forward, capturing Sho’s lips in a soft kiss. “I’m sorry…”

Sho took a deep breath. “You really do have to go now.”

“Yeah.”

Sho stroked through Jun’s sweaty hair, pushing it out of his face. “We’ll see the stars together again sometime. I promise.”

Jun nodded, looking shy despite everything they’d done. “I know we will.”

They finally separated, Sho trailing Jun to the door once he’d pulled his clothes back on, pulled himself back together. He made no further mention of whatever he’d felt earlier, when he’d put his hand to Sho’s heart with such confusion in his eyes.

Jun seemed downright cheery now. “My sister thinks I’ve been sleeping with Lady Satomi every night. Building stronger relationships with the Council.”

Sho grinned. “And? _Have_ you been sleeping with her?”

“What little regard you have for me, Sakurai Sho.” Jun gave him a shove. “You said it yourself the other day. That I’ve matured.”

“Then march your mature self out of here, and go greet your adoring well-wishers. I’ll be here, waiting for you to come back.”

Jun kissed him, stroking his cheek. “I won’t make you wait too long. Goodbye for now.”

Sho watched him leave, ignoring the nagging feeling in the back of his mind. “Goodbye for now.” 

—

He wasn’t sure what he noticed first - the pain or the shimmering spot in the corner of his eye.

He pulled on his boots and got to his feet, immediately on the defensive. What he was seeing was, quite frankly, impossible to comprehend.

Because the shimmer in the corner of his eye expanded in seconds until the entire room seemed to be aglow. He couldn’t stay in here. The screaming he heard seconds later only reinforced that, and he started to run.

He didn’t bother with the Stormcloud robe, leaving the room in only the thin tunic and trousers he’d been wearing beneath it. He fled, running down the narrow path to the grotto. The screaming was echoing off the cave walls. And the shimmer wasn’t just in the old lab…the shimmer was everywhere.

A portal had opened in Matsumoto Castle.

No.

Several portals had opened in Matsumoto Castle. All at once.

There were Shadows everywhere, racing across the walls. He didn’t even stop to think, only listening for the screams and sending light in their direction. He didn’t know where they were being pulled, but he acted quickly, severing Shadows from the innocents they tried to drag away. He heard splashes in the underground waterway, hoping they would be saved, hoping that Susanoo’s indifference wouldn’t carry all the way in here. His brother’s trespass on Amaterasu’s territory was the biggest it had ever been.

Sho charged up the steps, up and into the castle. Panicked people, servants and guests alike, were running to get away, but there was nowhere to escape. The pain was leading Sho upward. Not this floor. He couldn’t linger here. Already in the distance he could see the light arrive, the counterattack of the light magic users within the castle walls, be they Light Guardian or contracted help. He had to trust that they would put up a fight.

He remembered a different time, fifteen years earlier, where a single portal had frightened him. But Sho felt oddly calm now, needing no Light Staff. Only his thoughts as he made his way forward, directing light with little more than his left hand waving in the direction he wished it to go, other hand over his heart.

Nobody seemed to realize the power he was wielding, as they were too busy trying to escape and save themselves. He could recognize the colors of the different clans, their guests, the Matsumoto Castle servants trying to help them get away. He could hear explosions above him, louder than Clan Matsumoto’s drums, the walls rattling from the impact.

“Lady of Heaven,” he whispered, focusing only on making his way to Jun. “Lead me where I need to go.”

He was nearly to the stairway to the second level of the castle when the wall to his right exploded, knocking him to the side with the force of it. A flood of oily black rushed into the room, almost like a churning river. He clung tight to his tunic, hand pressed hard to his heart, nails digging into his skin. He felt them take hold, felt a punishing chill snake around him, could feel his limbs start to lock. The Shadows were taking form, tightening their grip.

He shut his eyes, refusing. No, Sho decided. No, I won’t let you win this time.

He merely waved his hand, and the Shadows vanished in a flash, freeing him. He got back on his feet, seeing that he’d managed to set half the tapestries and carpets in the hall on fire in the process. Well, the guards could handle that. Leave the Shadows to him.

He kept running, kept moving forward, pushing the Shadows away until he heard the screams of children in the room beside him. His chest was aching, telling him to continue upstairs. But something kept him back. He merely held up his hand, blowing the door off the hinges.

Inside he found Ryoko-san, her Light Staff out before her, pushing light in any direction she could, desperately standing in front of three frightened children. There was only one reason why Ryoko-san would be here and not at Lady Rinko’s side. 

These were Matsumoto Rinko’s children.

There were Shadows all around, the walls looking like they were melting, streams of black seeming to be seeping down from the room above. Ryoko had done her best so far, keeping them back before they could materialize and take hold of the children, but soon her strength would give out.

Their eyes met, Light Guardian to Light Guardian. There was no time for questions, no time for anything but action.

“Get them out of here,” Sho told her. “Get them to safety. I will cover you.”

“May her light shine upon you,” Ryoko-san said, holding her staff out before her, taking the smallest child’s hand in her own. They fled the room and Sho guarded their escape. From behind, he could see more light, more people joining the fight against the impossible onslaught.

As soon as Ryoko-san and the children vanished from sight, he hurried to the steps, taking them upstairs two at a time. Letting the pain guide him. People were still trying to escape, Sho the only one moving up while others fled down the stairs. He prayed that they would all find a way out. 

Somehow he wasn’t surprised that the ache was leading him in the direction of the grand dining hall, to the room with the round Council table. If Ninomiya was a betting man, he’d be rolling in coin right now. Everything he’d suspected had come true. Somehow, Jun had been corrupted. There was no other explanation for what was happening right now. But Sho knew in his heart, even as it broke, that this hadn’t been something in Jun’s control. 

He only hoped he wasn’t too late. 

He fought back with his light, banishing coils of Shadows out of existence, lashing out with an anger he could barely contain. Jun had asked him. Jun had put his hand to Sho’s heart and asked him only hours earlier. Did you feel it? Just now? And he’d done nothing, nothing.

He could hate himself for it later, instead running down the corridor. He turned the corner, running straight into someone coming the other way.

“Sho-chan!”

“Aiba-kun,” he said, eyes trying to focus on his friend. “What’s happening?”

“I…I was in the room, the one we were sharing before you got hauled away,” Aiba said, words slurring together in his panic. “All of a sudden I heard the screams, and I ran to the hall with the round table…Sho-chan, the doors are locked somehow and Nino and Ohno-kun are in there!”

Aiba held up one of his light bombs, the item small in his shaking hand.

“I tried to blast my way inside,” Aiba explained. “Destroyed most of what’s in the hall, but they…they keep coming back!”

Sho took a breath. So those were the explosions he’d heard. “Masaki, you need to get out of here.”

“Are you kidding? I’m not going anywhere. Our friends are in that room!”

If they hadn’t already been taken away. 

Sho grabbed hold of him by the arm. “How many more of those do you even have?”

Aiba looked embarrassed. “Two…behind you!”

Sho whirled, just as several Shadows came sneaking around the corner, slithering along the walls. He blasted them back with an indifferent wave of his hand, lighting up the corridor and shattering vases. At least nothing was on fire this time.

He turned back, seeing a mixture of joy and respect in Aiba’s face. Not the fear he anticipated. Knowing Aiba would not be deterred, he decided to press on.

“Here’s what we do. You’ll throw the first one, and once the shockwave passes, I will take advantage of the Shadows’ retreat and get in that room. I’m going to get them out, Nino, Satoshi-kun, whoever on the Council is still…” He paused, not wanting to think about that. “You find your way out of here. Let Satoshi-kun do the work, and you save that last light bomb only if you really need it, okay?”

“What about Matsujun…he was in there too…”

The pain in his chest, strong as ever, let him know Jun was still here. Jun was still in the Stormlands. Even with the Dark Lord’s corruption, there was still a Jun to be protected.

“I’m going to save him.”

“How?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Aiba embraced him then, squeezing hard. “He’s still in there. Whatever the Dark Lord has done to him, Matsujun is still in there. He’s fighting, Sho-chan, I know he is.”

“Come on, stay close.”

They moved slowly, cautiously down the hallway. Sho could see scorch marks, cracks in the strong stone where Aiba’s previous attempts to get inside had ultimately failed. Where there ought to have been a set of double doors was an undulating wall of black. Shadows blanketed the hall, covering the doors, the nearby walls. They’d started to inch their way across the carpet, but without haste. Most of the warm bodies to steal away had already fled, leaving nothing for them to attack.

Lady of Heaven, Sho prayed, please protect my friends.

They stayed back several meters, and Aiba pointed to a small alcove just to the side. “I threw the other ones and hid here. It was relatively safe from the full force of the shockwave, just a little ringing in my ears.”

“Okay,” Sho agreed. “You throw it and then we duck in there. And then we move forward. You do not leave my side, got it?”

“Sho-chan, what if…”

“If Satoshi-kun and Nino…” He couldn’t bring himself to finish that sentence. “I’ll get you out of here myself. That’s a promise.”

“Okay,” Aiba said, nodding in acceptance. “Okay.”

Sho stood by, seeing that the Shadows near the doors were stirring a bit, smelling fresh and available blood. Aiba tugged the metal piece from the light bomb, combining the volatile ingredients within. With all the strength he possessed, he flung it toward the doors, striking the wall of black in the distance right in the middle.

Together they rushed into the alcove, crouching down. Aiba, knowing Sho would need all his strength to push forward, covered him as best he could, bravely willing to absorb the worst of it himself.

Soon the very foundations of the building around him shook, light flooding the hall around him. He felt Aiba’s arms come around him tighter, and then the wave hit. The walls took the brunt of it, but the roar of the explosion was no less than it had been that day in the snow field.

It took a few seconds to recover, and he and Aiba slowly got back up. Sho poked his head out first, seeing that it had worked as intended. The Shadow wall had vanished, leaving only the doors in its place, somehow unscathed. There was something more at work here.

As Aiba had described, there was an uncomfortable ringing in his ears. When he spoke, he felt as though he was underwater. “Masaki,” he said. “Stay close.”

Aiba only nodded. However many of his devices he’d thrown, he’d endured the impact again and again to try and save their friends. Sho refused to let him come to any more harm.

He stepped back into the corridor, walking steadily. He pressed his hand to his heart and focused on the door. For the first time in his life, he felt pushback, felt something fighting back against his light. This was the Dark Lord himself at work. Still he pushed on, averting his eyes as his light overwhelmed the entire hall. 

The pain was still there. The pain was still there. Jun had not left him. Not yet.

The magical barrier that was keeping the doors shut finally weakened under the force of Sho’s light, the heavy wood splintering and the hinges falling away. The doors simply collapsed inward.

He took in the scene quickly. Blood. Broken Light Staffs. Walls covered in black. 

And just in front of the fireplace, Ninomiya Kazunari holding the Sword of Light Kusanagi in one hand, the Yata no Kagami in the other. Clan Ninomiya, the peacekeepers of the realm. The Lady of Heaven had blessed him, allowed him to wield her sacred objects. 

Because there was a barrier around him, a protective bubble of light all around him and the two people behind him. A frightened Lady Satomi and another woman Sho recognized as one of Clan Ishihara’s guests. Given how empty the room was now, only two representatives of the Council of Five had survived the attack. 

Sho could see Shadows crawling all along the barrier that surrounded Nino, trying to find a way to get in, to get at Nino and the women he was protecting. Would the Lady’s light be able to hold out against the onslaught? Who knew how long Nino had been standing there, holding the items aloft in his shaking hands. 

“Sho-san,” Nino said, voice carrying across the room easily even as the Shadows were starting to obscure him from sight as they fought at the barrier. Sho had never heard him sound so serious. “The balcony.”

“Satoshi-kun…?”

“He’s there.” Sho saw the desperation in Nino’s face. “Please Sho-san…”

“Nino, Lady Satomi…please close your eyes,” Sho said, turning to Aiba. “See if you can join them.”

Nino and Aiba both nodded, understanding Sho’s plan in an instant. 

Sho put his hand to his heart, aiming at the Shadows swarming the bubble of light. They vanished, the barrier unchanged. 

“Quickly,” Nino ordered, lowering the sword. 

The light vanished in an instant, and Aiba ran, moving to stand beside them, keeping the women protected between him and Nino. As soon as he was in place, Nino held up the sword again, not complaining about the obviously uncomfortable weight of it as the faint glow returned, covering all four of them now.

“Go, Sho-chan!” Aiba cried. “Go!”

Without looking back, knowing that at least Nino and Aiba were safe for the time being, he hurried down the corridor that led to the balcony. He tried to ignore the blood, the proof that innocent people had been dragged down this corridor to their doom. The air from outside was fresh and cool, and Sho came to a stop in the doorway.

He and Jun had looked at the stars together here. It was afternoon now, an overcast day. Jun was standing in front of a massive portal, Ohno Satoshi opposite him. Ohno had his right hand to his chest, his left holding his Light Staff before him. He was trying to close the portal, and Jun was doing nothing to stop him. Perhaps knowing it was a futile effort. 

Still, Ohno refused to stop trying, and the light he wielded was beautiful and terrible, aimed with sharp precision at the edges of the portal, desperately trying to collapse it in an almost surgical fashion. The usual methods of attack had likely failed him, and Sho could see the exhaustion in his friend’s determined face. He wouldn’t be able to keep this up much longer.

“Satoshi-kun,” Sho said. “Nino needs you. Go back inside.”

“If I don’t close this portal, he will die,” Ohno replied in his steady voice. “I have to protect him.”

“She breeds such self-sacrificing little slaves, my sister does.”

Sho looked away from Ohno, blood running cold. It was Jun standing there in front of the portal, the face covered in scars, the shape and sound that Sho felt he knew better than his own self.

But this wasn’t Jun. This wasn’t really Matsumoto Jun speaking to them. Sho could see an odd purple cast to the dark scarring across his skin, a strange sort of shimmering much like the portals between realms.

Sho watched an amused sneer appear on Jun’s face as cold, indifferent eyes now stared at him straight on. “You’ve been a bit of a nuisance.”

The person who was communicating through Jun had referred to a sister, but that sister wasn’t Lady Rinko. That sister was _Amaterasu_. Somehow, the Dark Lord Tsukuyomi himself was speaking to them. But how?

“This realm is not yours.” Sho put his hand to his chest. “Release him. Leave this place.”

The Dark Lord held out his hand, seeming to admire the scars he’d left behind on Jun’s body. The voice that was and wasn’t Jun’s was nonchalant, lazy. “This one is a nuisance too. Even now he fights me after all I’ve done for him. All the power I’ve bestowed upon him. Ah, but I shall break him again, as I’ve broken him before.”

Sho felt rage building inside him, hearing the Dark Lord speak so casually of the things he had done to Jun. But Aiba had been right all along - Jun was fighting. Somewhere in there, Jun was fighting for his life. Sho had to help him.

But how?

He raised his left hand, uncertain. The Dark Lord cocked his head, laughing. “You would not do something so foolish, Guardian. You will only leave this weak vessel with more damage.”

Sho breathed in, breathed out. He could light candles as well as he could set halls aflame. Could he not try targeting the scars and only the scars? The black markings the Dark Lord had left behind? Would that be enough to free him?

Before he could make the attempt, Jun merely lifted a hand. They were knocked back, both him and Ohno. Sho hit the ground with a heavy thud, hearing Ohno’s Light Staff go clattering off behind them. He looked up, breathing heavily, pain coursing through his entire body.

He could see that the effort had weakened the Dark Lord, could see Jun had fallen to his knees, his chest heaving. Keeping this portal open, sending his Shadows through…it was sapping his power. The Dark Lord could not sustain himself in his sister’s domain for much longer, especially in an unwilling body.

Slowly, Sho got back to his feet, moving toward Ohno, who was still on the ground, exhausted. “Are you hurt?”

Ohno groaned, having spent so much energy in his efforts to close the portal. But suddenly his eyes widened in terror, hand clutching his chest. “Kazu…”

Sho turned, looking behind them. He saw Nino in the doorway, mirror and sword in his hands. Aiba was close behind, standing in front of Lady Satomi and her guest. Somehow Nino had discovered that the protective shielding the Lady of Heaven had bestowed on him didn’t require him to stay in one place. The glowing light still surrounded all four of them, even as Shadows slid along the outside, desperate to get in.

“Kazu, get out of here!” Ohno cried.

“Taking a bit too long out here, Oh-chan, and it’s starting to worry me,” Nino said. “So I’ve come to offer a bit of assistance. I’ve never been much of a believer in fate, but it’s remarkable that Kusanagi was here today. This sword was given to my family for a reason all those generations ago, but now I think I finally understand why…”

The pain in Sho’s chest increased, staggering him a little. He knew what Nino intended to do. 

Sho moved with heavy steps, shaking his head. “No. No, that is not the way.”

“You’re only saying this so I don’t kill the person you love,” Nino told him. 

Sho’s look hardened. “I might still be able to save him…”

“Do it!”

They all turned, seeing Jun had gotten to his feet, was swaying before the portal. The scars on his face no longer had that strange purple glow, but he was bleeding. Bleeding from his nose and his mouth and his eyes, a horrifying mixture of red and black. It was killing him, just as certain as a blade would. 

Sho wondered what it had taken him to fight back for control of his own body.

“He will return soon!” Jun insisted, face twisted with pain. “You must do it now, while my actions are still my own. Kill me and close the portal!”

“Matsujun…” he heard Aiba say with a shaking voice. “Sho-chan, he’s still fighting…”

An uneasy thought crossed Sho’s mind. So long as Jun was here, he was a threat. He could be controlled by the Dark Lord again. More people would die.

But what if he wasn’t here?

And in that moment, Sho made up his mind.

“Satoshi-kun, do you have any strength left?” Sho asked, surprised by how calm he sounded in that moment.

“Don’t worry about me,” Ohno muttered, slowly moving to retrieve his Light Staff.

“Aiba-kun, as soon as we leave, you throw the last light bomb. That will stagger the Shadows long enough for Satoshi-kun to close the portal for good.”

“Wait a minute,” Aiba interrupted. “What do you mean as soon as you _leave_?”

He met Nino’s eyes. “Do you remember the words from the Bonding ritual?”

Nino was confused. “Vaguely…what are you doing? Where are you going?”

“To a place we thought nobody could return from.” He brought his hand to his chest. “She’s been preparing me for this, my whole life. Connecting us, giving me strength. It’s been her wish that I protect him, and this is the only way I still can. The Lady gave me her light without limits for a reason.”

He saw realization and fear register on Nino’s face. “You don’t know what awaits you there,” Nino said. “What if you never come back?”

“Staying here will only hurt more innocents.”

“Sho…” He turned, seeing that Jun had been listening. He was shaking his head, clutching his heart. Amaterasu had given Jun the same pain, the same fear. The fear that Sho would be hurt. “He is fighting me, and I can’t hold on much longer. I order you not to do this.”

He smiled weakly. “I’m afraid I cannot obey you this time, my lord.”

Aiba had tears in his eyes. “There has to be another way, Sho-chan! You’ll die!”

“She will be with us,” he insisted. “She will guide the way.”

“At least take the sword,” Nino said. “Protect yourself!”

“That sword must stay here. You above all people know what it must symbolize in the days to come,” Sho replied. “But I will take the mirror. It may be our only way to reach her.”

“Very well,” Nino decided, voice a little lighter. “Leave all of the explanations and clean-up work to me. I see how it is, Sakurai Sho.”

Sho couldn’t help grinning, seeing the trust in Nino’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Good luck. May her light shine upon you.”

“May it shine upon you always, my lord,” Sho said. “Satoshi-kun, when you’re ready.”

“Sho, I won’t let you do this!” Jun cried. But his voice was weak. The Dark Lord’s control had taken a heavy toll on him.

“I’m ready,” Ohno announced.

“Nino, the mirror in three.”

“Got it,” Nino replied.

Sho shut his eyes for a moment, saying a silent prayer, hoping his gamble would work somehow.

“Okay,” he said. “One. Two. Three.”

“Hurry now and don’t look back,” Nino begged him. “We’ll be okay.”

The protective barrier of light around Nino, Aiba, and the two women vanished as Nino put the Yata no Kagami in Sho’s outstretched hand. He took it, shoving it into his pocket and stepping forward. The balcony was soon overwhelmed with Ohno’s light magic, lashing out at the Shadows who went in for the kill now that the barrier had lifted.

Sho moved toward the still-open portal, finding Jun waiting alone, barely able to stand. “Do you remember the words of our Bonding?”

He watched blood and tears roll down Jun’s doubtful face. “Superstitious bullshit.”

“If we are separated, the pain will lead us.” Sho smiled. “If we are separated, come back to me.”

Jun simply nodded. Sho held out his hand, and Jun took it, just as he had that day on Isejima when they’d walked together into Ama-no-Iwato. When they’d walked together into an unknown future. It seemed a lifetime ago.

Sho said the words aloud, letting them give him the courage he needed to see his dangerous plan through. “Lady of Heaven, protector of us all. It is my wish that I be Bonded permanently to Matsumoto Jun, whose blood has mingled with mine.”

He took a deep breath.

“Wherever your light reaches, keep us in your favor.”

Without turning back, Sho started to walk and Jun walked at his side. And this time they entered the portal to the Dark Realm together.


	3. Hope in the Darkness

Part Three  
Hope in the Darkness

—

Sho woke up alone.

The ground was hard beneath him, and slowly he sat up, feeling dizzy as he did so. Opening his eyes, he took in what was around him.

He was in the same clothes. He was in the same body. Amaterasu’s mirror was in his pocket, and he pulled it out to find that it hadn’t cracked or shattered. It had come through with him unchanged. He couldn’t help blinking, wondering if he was hallucinating. Or if, perhaps, this was the afterlife.

He’d woken up on the balcony of Matsumoto Castle, its high walls, the doorway beckoning him back to the warmth inside. But yet this wasn’t Matsumoto Castle, not the one of his youth and not the one he’d just left behind.

The colors of the world around him were muted, faded. A poor imitation of the reality he’d known for the thirty-seven years he’d been alive. He got to his feet, staggering to the door and going inside. 

Everything around him seemed imperfect, unfinished. He moved through the dining hall, finding it empty. Devoid of life, untouched. The round table. The empty glass case over the fireplace. There was food on the table, though nothing he recognized. Colorless meat, strange looking mounds of rice, misshapen bottles. 

He moved into the halls, where his light magic had only recently set tapestries aflame, had shattered vases and other decorations. There was none of that destruction here. It was only a sad, empty place, the rich purple of the Clan Matsumoto banners appearing here as nothing more than a drab gray.

As he continued to walk, walls and objects he’d known from the castle he’d lived inside abruptly came to a halt, nothing but black emptiness in their place. Perhaps the Dark Lord, forever envious of his sister’s domain, had tried to recreate various parts of it here but had come up dreadfully short. Or had grown bored in his attempts.

He walked to Jun’s chambers, the ones from his memories. Opening the door, he found nothing but black. Unfinished. He stepped back, unsure what walking into it would do to him. He walked to his own chambers, opening the door to nothing. He headed down the stairs to the castle’s lower level, down the long staircase to the grotto, hearing his footsteps echo. The canal remained, so did the boats. But the path to the lab where he and Jun had spent those precious nights together did not have a duplicate here. 

It was then that he realized that the pain in his chest had returned, but it was barely noticeable, considering what he’d grown accustomed to living with. It meant that Amaterasu was with him. The pain she’d given him had not left him as it had when they’d been separated before. Back then, Jun had been here in the Dark Realm and Sho had been in the Stormlands. But now they were both here, separated by a distance Sho couldn’t yet fathom.

But he was here, somewhere in this bleak world. The Lady of Heaven was reassuring him of it. They’d come through together, and they would find one another again. He would trust the pain. He would follow that pain as he had before, all the way back to Jun.

“Lady of Heaven, protect us both,” he prayed quietly, putting his hope and faith in her as he always had, even though this world was not one she ruled.

It had been foolish to come through the veil at all, not knowing what awaited him here in the world Tsukuyomi owned. But he wasn’t dead, or at least not in the way he had always understood it. The pain Amaterasu had given him was still there. He pressed fingers to his neck, finding his steady pulse. He still drew breath.

Jun was not here in the castle. It was time to leave.

The cranks that the dock workers used to open and close the canal doors had not been recreated here. Sho got into a small rowboat at one of the docks, finding a pair of oars. The water retained the life it had always had. Susanoo’s gifts were alive in the realms of both of his siblings.

The oars cut through the still water like a blade as he rowed away from the dock and toward the doors. When he was close enough, he pressed his hand to his heart. Now was the time to discover if the sun brand would work in the Dark Realm or if it was nothing but a useless marking on his chest.

He offered a silent prayer to the goddess before lifting his left hand. There was none of the brightness Sho knew from the Stormlands, but the power had come along. He blasted a hole in the door wide enough for the boat to make it through. 

But the action itself had been risky, and he could hear a rumbling from above, the ceiling starting to crumble and chunks of rock hitting the water around him hard. The Dark Lord knew he was here, somehow, wherever he was.

Sho rowed quickly, heading for the exit he’d created for himself. Matsumoto Town was outside, a poor imitation. He made it to the canal, the water guiding him away from the castle. Bridges in the Stormlands were twisted or unfinished here as they spanned the canal. No people walked across them or on the paths along the canal. Buildings were stuck together, windows wide open in some places and doors misshapen. There were no people anywhere, no smoke emerging from chimneys, no birds in the sky.

He was maybe a few hundred meters away when he looked back. The castle was there one moment, the next only black. Gone as if it had never been there. It sent a chill down his spine. Even if he could feel Jun’s presence somewhere, would the Dark Lord be able to block the way to reach him? Would the path before him vanish?

No matter how long it took, Sho would find his way back to him. And he knew that Jun would do the same.

He rowed downriver for what felt like hours, following the tiniest increases of pain that served as the only compass available to him. The same waterway, the same Kaidogawa that was in the Stormlands was here in the Dark Realm as well. A constant across both realities. No matter how much or how little of his sister’s lands that Tsukuyomi had recreated, the water would be the same.

And so he would travel. He would travel as he’d done when he was young, when the world seemed so full of opportunities. When a young man could leave his home and family behind to seek adventure, to seek employment. To climb mountains and hike trails, to love and think freely for the first time in his life. When nothing seemed impossible. When the only obligation was to ensure he worked enough to keep a roof over his head and food in his belly. 

But this travel would not be the same. This time his only destination was Jun.

He made his way to Kaido Harbor, walking unfinished roads in the unfinished town. He saw not a soul. He saw not a Shadow. He wondered if that was always the way of this place, but he suspected that it wasn’t. To invade the Stormlands and Matsumoto Castle as he just had, the Dark Lord had entered a land where he didn’t belong. The only other time he’d done so was to steal his sister’s sacred jewel from Fujisan. Though he’d opened many portals, Tsukuyomi had never ventured into his sister’s realm again himself.

Clearly crossing over weakened him, and so perhaps that explained Sho’s lonely journey. Perhaps that explained why he had not been attacked. He gave thanks for it, for the Dark Lord’s overreach. It had probably taken incredible effort to send Jun back, to wait until the time was right and invade his body, take over and strike at the heart of the Stormlands’ power. But surely he was somewhere in this realm and he was recovering.

The clock was ticking, and Sho had to find Jun before the Dark Lord’s power returned to him.

Sho entered Kaido Harbor, walking along the docks, gazing out to the seemingly endless expanse of sea. There was no daylight here, only a darkened sky. But yet there was moonlight, the barest sliver of a crescent moon. The Lady was here, even if she was far away. She was here, and she would keep him safe. 

The pain in his chest hummed, urging him south across the water. Jun was not here. Jun had not ended up in Kaido when they’d come back through the portal. Where was he?

If the seas here were no different than the seas in the Stormlands, then a mere rowboat was not going to get Sho where he needed to go. But he was one man. One single man. What could he do?

He reached into his pocket, pulling out the sacred mirror and gazing into its unknown depths. It had been their destiny to come here, Sho thought. All this time, the Lady had known this would happen. That her brother would overstep, that her realm would come under attack. For reasons he couldn’t understand, she had chosen to give him her power. Just as the Dark Lord had chosen Matsumoto Jun to be his champion, to be the bridge between realms, so had Amaterasu chosen Sakurai Sho. 

He’d already been able to use his light magic here. How could he make sure Jun was freed? How could he ensure that the Dark Lord would not use Jun in such a way again? Would Sho even know how to banish the darkness from him? In rescuing Jun, Sho would be achieving victory for the Lady. Would she help him here? Could she help him to save Jun’s soul? 

Hadn’t that been the point from the very beginning - orchestrating their fates, bringing them together so that their Bond would be strong enough when they finally ended up here in this terrible place? Hadn’t the Lady of Heaven set all this in motion so that Sho could be strong enough to save him?

With every mystery and motive of Amaterasu’s that became clearer to him, more obstacles appeared to take their place. But wallowing in confusion was not going to get him anywhere. He needed to find a way to leave the island first.

Most of the boats in Kaido Harbor were unusable. The Dark Lord had chosen to give few of them sails, few of them the more advanced engines powered by coal and steam. It took him hours, moonlight unchanging overhead, but he finally found a vessel that might serve his purposes until he could find another. 

The energy that had gotten him through the portal, gotten him out of Matsumoto Town and all the way to the coast was finally fleeing him, and he felt exhausted. The air here was crisp and cold, not the short Kaido summer he’d left behind. He walked until he found a building that was still mostly a building, taking shelter inside. He found food sitting on plates on the table. It had no taste, but it filled his belly. 

He wondered what it had been like for Jun all those years, trapped in this colorless, tasteless world. Had it driven him mad? Had he spent all of it fighting? He’d clearly aged, had grown up. To do that, he would have had to eat. How long had he wandered this horrible place before the Dark Lord had captured him? Or had he been a prisoner all those years?

He found a hard mattress and blankets, thoughts of Jun’s suffering clouding his mind until he finally fell into a dreamless, heavy sleep.

—

The house was still there when he woke, and so was the ship. Was it morning? Afternoon? Night? He had no way of knowing how much time was passing, as he emerged from the building only to still find moonlight overhead. The pain in his chest was still telling him to go south.

He spent several hours committing outright theft, taking the strange food that the Dark Lord had created to mimic his sister’s realm. There seemed to be no vermin here, as nothing seemed to be touched. Nothing seemed to rot. Food simply…existed as though it was just another object to be reproduced. Perhaps all these years the Shadows entered the Stormlands to do more than just steal people away. Perhaps they’d been conducting reconnaissance, slipping through the veil to report back on what life was like in Amaterasu’s realm. The Dark Lord had then populated his pathetic lands in ways that made sense only to him.

Either way, Sho was grateful for the strangeness of it all. If he was going to travel, if he was going to search this eerie mirror of his own world for Jun, then he would need all of his strength to do it. He loaded up the ship with whatever he could find. He retrieved clothing and mounds of coal.

There was no map, there were no sea charts to examine. There was only an engine to be powered, but he had no crew. He was no sailor, no stoker, no man of the sea, but he had to try. He shoveled coal into the furnace, as much as it could hold, shoveling until his arms grew tired and his body grew filthy. He used light magic to set it ablaze, watched the turbines come alive. It would be slow progress, steering above until the coal ran out and the engines paused. He’d have to start over again and again, shoveling, lighting, steering. But for now the ship had come alive, at least as far as he could tell.

He moved to the bridge, standing at the wheel and taking hold of it. He pulled the mirror from his pocket with his dirty hand, looked into the glass as he had when he was a young boy, unaware of the terrifying future that awaited him. He looked into it with that same earnestness.

“Take me to Jun,” he said quietly, wondering if he’d be stuck with the rowboat after all.

He waited. And he waited. He heard the hum of the engines and still they weren’t moving. But he waited some more.

“Please,” he whispered. “If you want me to protect him, you must help me. If this has been your plan for me all along, then please. I beg you. Take me back to Jun.”

The ship didn’t move. 

It had been foolish to think he could do it all himself. Foolish even more to believe that the engines might work here the same as they did back home. All the effort he’d put in was for nothing. He sank to the floor, exhausted, unsure what to do. 

His chest ached, telling him where Jun was. Was this punishment then? He’d chosen to sacrifice his own life in his own realm, had pulled Jun with him into this horrible place. And now they were separated, separated in a way that could not be undone. Would he live the rest of his life here, unable to reach him? Would he die a complete and utter failure? Why had she given him all this power if it would just be wasted on him? If she was never going to do anything to help him?

He set the mirror down on the floor before him, tears filling his eyes. He sat there, overwhelmed and frustrated. Listening for hours until the engines finally died, as the coal that fired them was consumed.

“This cannot be how it ends.”

The ship lurched forward suddenly, sending the mirror skittering across the floor. Sho lunged for it, picking it up before it could slam into the wall and break. He struggled to his feet, watching the steering wheel move without him touching it. He hurried out onto the deck of the empty ship, seeing that he was moving. The engines had not miraculously started to work, he heard and felt no hum beneath his feet. And yet he could already see Kaido Harbor disappearing behind him.

It took him several minutes to realize what was really happening. Amaterasu wasn’t moving the ship, wasn’t magically floating him south. 

It was the _water_. The water was moving.

He walked all along the deck in disbelief, watching as the waves swayed and swelled, propelling the ship away from Kaido. As though the water itself was made up of thousands of hands, pushing and pushing and pushing. Carrying Sho south instead of relying on an engine, on wind hitting sail.

He didn’t know if Amaterasu had asked for a favor or if the choice to intervene had been his alone, but the only reason he was moving was because Susanoo, Lord of the Seas, had finally taken a side in the battle between his siblings.

He clung tight to the ship’s rail, tears falling down into the water far below. Would Susanoo feel his gratitude? He prayed and prayed, thanking the god for his intervention, for his mercy. 

Hours passed in this way, the boat floating along, guided by the invisible hand of the god. He didn’t know why he had been chosen for such a life, to know that some gods were on his side and that others opposed him. To know that the heavens and the seas were working in tandem to bring him back to Jun. Sho decided it was best not to question it, not to give in to his doubts. This still wasn’t over.

Susanoo’s intervention was a miracle, but somewhere the Dark Lord was regaining his strength. This world was his, and he certainly would not give up his ambitions over Jun without a fight.

The Stormlands archipelago had more than 6,000 islands, but Sho had no idea how many of them had copies here in the Dark Realm. As the hours passed, as the days passed, he saw none. The ship sailed along in a night without end, the moon fixed in a world that didn’t play by the Stormlands’ rules.

The pain in his chest strengthened in increments. Without even having to speak, the ship carried him in the direction he needed to go. Perhaps Susanoo could look into his soul, could interpret the ache that had plagued him for all these years. He was a god, and what he knew and believed would never be certain. But still, his kind intervention carried Sho along.

Sho registered the passing of time by keeping track of the food he’d brought aboard, seeing how it slowly began to disappear, sustaining him. He registered the passing of time in the hairs that sprouted on his face, on his chin. It had been days, perhaps a week or two already. 

He spent his days in prayer, unwilling to take the assistance he’d been given for granted. He thanked Susanoo. He thanked Amaterasu. Selfishly, he also thought of Jun, the nights in the old lab, the joy their reunion had brought to him after so many years of suffering alone. Those nights where Jun had kissed him and had only been himself, untouched and untainted but for the scars upon his skin. 

Sho was consumed in prayer and in memories, keeping himself strong, keeping himself focused, keeping himself sane until his eyelids grew heavy, and his body forced him to rest. Then he’d wake and start all over again, offering nothing but gratitude, yet imagining and craving a future where he and Jun might finally be free.

Finally, he woke one day to discover that the ship had stopped moving. He left the cabin he’d been sleeping in, moving up to the deck. His heart clenched at the sight before him. The colors were muted as they’d been in Kaido, and he could not smell the pine needles. But there it was in the harbor, the large torii gate he’d know anywhere. There it was, in his chest, the knowledge that Jun was here. This was where he had come when they’d walked through the portal.

Despite the lack of color and scent, there was a meticulousness to the recreation here that had been absent in the castle and in Kaido. Consumed with his jealousy, the Dark Lord had made his own copy of Isejima. The island most beloved by the sister he hated.

They were a few dozen meters from shore. The only way to reach the island now was to simply swim to it. Leaping from the top deck would be foolish, so Sho headed down into the lower decks of the ship, pressing a hand to his heart and holding his left hand out. The last time he had done so, the castle had disappeared. He prayed that Isejima would not vanish before his eyes, but he had to take the risk.

He blasted a hole in the bulkhead of the ship, opening a path a few feet above the waterline. A much safer plunge to undertake. He felt no reaction this time, no crumbling of the ship. He gave thanks for that, pulling the Yata no Kagami from his pocket, holding it tightly in his hand to keep it from floating away. He dove into the water, finding it cold and almost refreshing after his long voyage.

He left the ship behind and swam for home.

—

He let the pain guide him onward. He bypassed the harbor and the town, unwilling to find out if the Dark Lord had gone so far as to recreate the house he’d grown up in, to see what had and hadn’t been reproduced in this depressing world.

Instead he found himself walking along the path to the center of the island. It didn’t feel right here, the lack of scent, the lack of calm. Isejima, the true Isejima, was beautiful. Something Sho had come to understand as he’d grown up, had been away from it and trapped inside a lonely prison for years upon years. This place was a perversion. The further Sho traveled inland, the darker it grew, the trees rising up and blocking out the moonlight. In his true home, Sho would be able to navigate these woods without having to think too hard about it. But here he trusted nothing, not the trees soaring to the skies, not the dirt under his boots.

The pain told him that Jun was here, that Jun was close. Of all the places to end up, Sho was a little surprised that Jun would be waiting for him in the cave where their destinies had permanently intertwined. Jun had been angry that day, frightened that day. And neither of them had known how much things would change the moment they set foot inside. 

But in the end, it seemed fitting. That no matter which world they were in, the Stormlands or the Dark Realm, destiny was calling them back to Ama-no-Iwato, the place where they’d been Bonded.

He finally emerged into the clearing, resting his hands on his hips and taking in the sight of it. In his own world, the Tree of Light majestically soared, anchored into the ground by thick roots and the passage of centuries. Though so much of the Stormlands had been reproduced in its own perverse manner here, Tsukuyomi’s hatred of his sister was evident in the grove.

In the Dark Realm, the Tree of Light was dead. An old, rotted stump. The cave entrance was dark, unwelcoming. No string of prayers decorating it, no Elders nearby to bless Sho’s arrival. The last thing any sane person would do would be to set foot inside the open mouth of this cave. But Jun was there. Jun was inside. And if Jun felt even a fraction of the pain that Sho did, then he would know that Sho was coming. That they would be reunited. 

He slowly descended, willingly walking into the false Ama-no-Iwato. The path felt so familiar, sending chills down his spine. He walked with his hand to his heart, cautious and careful. As Ninomiya Kazunari had expected the Council meeting in Kaido to be a trap, so did Sho expect the same upon entering the cave.

Torches lit the way, though Sho suspected those had not been the Dark Lord’s doing. If Jun had been stuck on the island, unable to escape, then he would have found a way to light those torches. To live on the island and wait for Sho to find him. 

He followed the twisting path until the end, eyes brimming with tears when he finally came around the bend, saw Jun leaning against the empty pedestal. There was only one true mirror, and it was the one in Sho’s pocket.

On Jun the scars remained, but he wasn’t the man Sho had reunited with on Kaido, who’d been happy, who’d been relieved, who had dreamed so easily of them having a life together after the Council meeting. He was no longer the Jun who’d imagined a return to their old lives as nobleman and Light Guardian, not knowing the Dark Lord’s true plans for him.

Instead the man waiting for Sho looked guilty, forlorn, a shadow in the corner of the cave.

Sho stood there, keeping a few meters’ distance between them. “Sorry it took me so long.”

“I could feel you approaching…I thought you’d take comfort in finding me here.” Jun looked away, sadness in his voice. “This place means a lot to you.”

“This isn’t truly Ama-no-Iwato,” he replied.

“I didn’t want this for you,” Jun said quietly. “You should have let Ninomiya kill me. Now we’re both stuck here.”

“We don’t know that for a certainty.”

“There’s nothing for me back there. I’m a murderer. I watched the Shadows drag Clan Hirano’s heir and the leader of Clan Nagase through a portal to this place. And then I watched them drag my sister. Even though he was in control of me, I could watch. I could see it done.” Jun slumped down, back against the pedestal, sitting on the ground. “Sho, their deaths are on my hands. As are the deaths of anyone else that day.”

Hearing it confirmed was terrible. For all her misguided choices, Lady Rinko hadn’t deserved such a fate. 

Sho took a step forward. “How do you know she’s dead? I didn’t see a living soul on Kaido but that doesn’t mean they aren’t here somewhere…”

“There’s no one anywhere,” Jun shot back. “I spent fifteen years looking for my mother, and I never found her.”

Sho took this in, aching for Jun, feeling his suffering as his own. “You…remember?”

“As soon as I came back here, I was able to remember it all,” he admitted. “When he sent me back to Kaido, he stole those memories from me, and I didn’t think too hard about why. He didn’t need me to think or question. I’m nothing but a toy to him, a tool to be used. A warm body waiting to be controlled. He only sent me back to wreak havoc.”

“That was why Ninomiya freed me from Nakodojima Prison,” Sho confessed. “He didn’t believe your return was a miracle. He believed that you were a danger, and so he freed me. Ninomiya believed I’d be able to sense evil in you.”

“And what did you sense, Sho-san?” Jun asked, voice angry. “Because even I didn’t know what was happening until it was too late.”

“I sensed only you. The person I vowed to protect. The person I still intend to protect with my life.”

“All he did all those years was let me roam free. I could walk anywhere, think myself anywhere. I checked every island I could, every place she could be. My mother wasn’t here, maybe she never had been. He took some twisted sort of pleasure in it, letting me wander even though he knew I’d never find her. My suffering brought him joy. After all this time, I still don’t know why he chose me for this.”

Sho approached, moving to sit down beside Jun, wanting to touch him, feel him again. But he could sense that Jun didn’t want him to, so intense was the guilt that was consuming him.

“The things I’ve done…Sho-san, my hands will never be clean,” Jun muttered. “I let my sister die. He sent me back so I got the chance to meet my nieces and nephew. He did that to make it all the worse, so that I could sit here now and know that those children will grow up without their mother, the same as me.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Jun…”

“I fought him and I fought him and I fought him and I wasn’t strong enough to stop him,” Jun cried, making Sho’s heart break. “He sent me home, an ignorant fool, so I might see my family ruined, so I could help him carry out his plans. Even now, I know I am tied to him. I cannot go back to the Stormlands, because he’d only control me again.”

Sho crossed his arms, desperate to ease Jun’s suffering and self-loathing. But he knew that guilt, knew that loathing. He’d lived it himself in Nakodojima, believing that Jun was dead and that the fault lay entirely with him. It had been the Dark Lord’s doing that day in the snowfield. There’d been an odd cunning among those Shadows, the one who’d snuck through the trees in search of blood, emerging from behind to steal Jun away from him. The Dark Lord had targeted Jun intentionally. For years, he had planned it, just as the goddess had prepared Sho to fight back.

“Amaterasu gave me a power I still don’t fully comprehend,” Sho explained. He told Jun about what happened the night before they arrived at Kaido, the light magic she’d given him seemingly without limits. “Our light magic has always been able to banish the Shadows, banish the darkness. I don’t know if it would be too painful, but maybe I could do the same to you. I could find a way to target the darkness within you and cast it out.”

Jun sighed. “It won’t work.”

“How do you know that for sure?”

“Because it is not only darkness in me. There’s light too,” Jun said softly. “Coming back here, coming back to this place, I know how he was able to control me. I know how he was able to use me to travel to our world.”

Sho looked over, confused. “How? Was it through the scars he left on you?”

Jun held out his arm, pushing up his sleeve, Sho’s breath catching at the ribbons of black that still marked him everywhere. “These he only gave me for fun. Controlling me required a different sort of approach. You know better than anyone how he stole the purple stone from Fujisan all those years ago.”

Yasakani no Magatama, Amaterasu’s most beloved item. Tsukuyomi’s theft of the jewel allowed him to send his Shadows into their world, taking a piece of Amaterasu here into his Dark Realm.

“He fed it to me,” Jun said, fingers tracing along his scars. “He crushed that purple stone into dust, and he fed it to me for fifteen years. Everything I ate from the day I arrived, there’d been a fragment mixed in with it that I hadn’t been able to see. I grew up, I grew strong. Even as I wandered alone, unable to find my mother, my strength increased. He waited fifteen years for me to consume it all, every last speck of that jewel. Feeding it to me whole would have killed me, he said. The magic within it was too powerful. He told me all this before he sent me home. He told me how proud he was. Apparently he had tried it before, he had probably tried it again and again with the people he’d brought to this place for centuries. With me, he finally succeeded.”

Sho remembered how Jun had looked when Tsukuyomi had been in control of his body, the way those black scars had shimmered with a purple glow.

“His power and his sister’s, twisted together inside me. Light and shadow,” Jun muttered. “Sho, there is nothing you can do. These scars mark me as his, and so long as this jewel is in my blood, he can find me. He can take control again, whenever he has the strength to do it. Even if you can somehow cast the darkness out, make the scars disappear, that jewel will still be there.”

He shook his head. “We will find a way…we’ll find a way to save you and bring you back home…”

“You don’t understand,” Jun protested, getting to his feet. “I already told you there is nothing for me back there. There is no reason for me to return. Kill me now. Set me free from this hell and find your own way home, Sho. Pray to your goddess and let her rescue you.”

Sho stood, voice growing angry. “I won’t leave you behind. And I won’t hurt you. I made a promise.”

“Then I release you from it!” Jun shouted, frustrated tears in his eyes. “I release you from your promises. I release you from all of it.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” he replied.

“Why not?”

The answer, in the end, was rather simple. “Because I love you.”

He took a step forward, opening his arms, and he was relieved when Jun came to him, clinging tight. He shut his eyes, stroking his fingers through Jun’s hair, wishing he knew what to do. Wishing things between them could be so much simpler. Wishing they could go back to how things had been so long ago, when Sho had only to worry about Jun’s blasphemous beliefs, about his wild parties. When he only had to worry about what it meant for a Light Guardian to fall in love with the nobleman he was sworn to protect.

Neither of them had asked for this life. Neither of them could have imagined themselves as pawns of the gods. 

“I love you, too,” Jun whispered, body shaking. “More than you’ll ever know.”

They stood there, holding one another until they had no tears left to cry.

—

They’d eventually fallen asleep, utterly exhausted, lying side by side on blankets Jun had brought into the cave from one of the houses on the island. 

He saw that Jun was already awake, watching him with sadness in his eyes.

“Was I snoring like an old man again?” Sho asked.

Jun nodded, the ghost of a smile on his lips. Despite his scars, Sho was reminded of the Jun from years and years ago, the peculiar combination of wickedness and innocence. “I was tempted to roll you over.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Unbearable,” Jun said before leaning forward, giving him a soft kiss. “I’m sorry for the things I said…”

“Jun…”

“I’ve been here alone for weeks with only my misery for company. Seeing you again, knowing how hard you’ve always fought to find me…I didn’t feel worthy of it. I thought it would be easier for you if I just died.”

Before Sho could protest, Jun held up a hand to keep him from speaking.

“I know it’s selfish, but I don’t actually want you to give up on me. It’s your stubbornness I’ve always loved. It’s your stubbornness that keeps bringing you back to me, even if I don’t feel like I deserve it,” he explained. “When I said there was nothing for me back home, I was wrong. I want to be wherever you are, and if that’s the Stormlands, then I want to be saved. I want to be saved so I can be there with you. Even if you snore.”

Sho looked down, blushing. 

“Look at you,” Jun said. “Look at how cute you are when I make grand romantic confessions to you.”

He laughed, despite everything they’d been through. 

They were both so tired, and they lay together for hours, talking. Sho told Jun the whole story of meeting with Ninomiya and Ohno. Their true intentions on Kaido. He told Jun about Aiba, how Aiba had always believed in him. How Aiba had always believed that Jun ought to be saved.

In turn, Jun told Sho more about the years and years he’d been stuck here in the Dark Realm, the way he’d pressed on in search of his mother, in search of any hope he could cling to. How he’d refused to give up, fighting to find her until the Dark Lord had come to him, revealed the truth of his plans. How his hopes vanished in an instant.

They ate. They talked more. But eventually they both realized that they were only delaying the inevitable. They had to see if it was possible to free Jun. And if it wasn’t, then they’d have to determine how they’d survive in the Dark Realm for good.

The jewel was the key to it all, the fragments of Yasakani no Magatama that would always leave Jun vulnerable to the Dark Lord so long as they remained inside him. Jun assumed that with the way it was dispersed throughout his body that it would be impossible to remove. But Sho had been given too many positive signs all along for this to be the end. Amaterasu had given him power. Even Susanoo had lent him aid. 

Then an answer came to him. Maybe it wasn’t possible to remove all of the jewel…but maybe there was a way to remove some of it. Enough to set him free.

He pulled the Yata no Kagami from his pocket. Two of Amaterasu’s sacred objects were now here in this room. Her mirror of wisdom. Her jewel of benevolence. Beacons of her light, here in the darkness. Sho believed the answer was in prayer, in a ritual that the Lady of Heaven would recognize. Even performed here in a world that was not her own, maybe she would hear their pleas. But would she have the strength to cross between realms and find them?

“We’ll do the Bonding ritual,” Sho said. “Again.”

“Again?” Jun asked. “Why?”

“Because I have to taste your blood as part of it,” Sho replied, voice determined. “Perhaps then some of the jewel will pass to me. It would not be entirely contained within you any longer. The Dark Lord would not be able to use you if the power has been split between us, even if only a fraction is in me.”

Jun shook his head. “That’s…that’s too dangerous…”

“We’ve been plagued with danger all our lives, Jun. What’s one more gamble going to matter?”

Sho couldn’t help noticing that their roles had reversed. In his youth, Jun had been the reckless one, Sho the one preaching caution. Here in the Dark Realm, Sho would do whatever it took to see Jun saved.

Jun’s voice was nervous. “And if it doesn’t work?”

“Then we will keep trying. We will do the ritual and we will pray again. The more of that jewel that passes from your blood into mine will weaken the Dark Lord’s ability to control you…”

“Sho, he spent fifteen years feeding that jewel to me one speck at a time without me even realizing it. We don’t know how your body will handle it if you consume it faster, if that’s even possible to begin with. It could poison you. Worse, it could kill you.”

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take. I can think of no other solutions at present, can you?”

Jun gave in and they left the cave, wandering the false Isejima in search of the item they needed. A single knife they could use to make a cut, to reassert their Bonding and hopefully lessen Jun’s vulnerability. Together they’d look into the mirror and they’d pray that Amaterasu could hear them.

They found one, inside the duplicate of a shop along the Isejima waterfront. None of the elegance of the knife Sho’s mother had let him use, but it would serve their purposes. They returned to the cave with anxious hearts, descending into the depths as they had fifteen years earlier.

They approached the pedestal together, and Sho set down the mirror.

“The first time we did this I scared you,” Sho admitted. “I don’t think I ever apologized properly.”

“Do you think it was a sign? A warning of what was to come?” Jun asked him.

“I still don’t know. When I cut you and tasted your blood, it didn’t feel like a warning. It was entirely selfish. Because as soon as I tasted you, I wanted you,” he said, looking away, feeling his face grow hot. “I wanted you to be mine.”

Jun seemed rather pleased by his admission. “Well, you eventually got what you wanted.”

He let out a sad laugh. “Not enough. All those years we lost…I…we’ll never get them back…”

“There’s nothing to be done about that,” Jun replied. 

“I know,” he said, taking the simple knife from his pocket. “Are you ready?”

Jun nodded, and Sho took his hand. He leaned forward, pressing his lips to Jun’s. For luck and for love.

He drew the knife quickly against Jun’s palm, aiming only at pale flesh that had been unmarked by Tsukuyomi. Without hesitation, he brought Jun’s hand to his lips and took what the ritual required. That heat from so long ago returned, as fierce and strong as it had ever been. He gasped softly, tasting the coppery tang on his tongue again after so long. Mine…mine…

“Stop,” he eventually heard Jun beg him. He looked up, seeing the uncertainty in Jun’s face. “Not too much. We don’t know what it will do to you.”

He understood, letting Jun’s hand fall away, trying to focus on breathing as Jun tied a thin piece of fabric around his hand, letting it soak up the blood. When he’d finally calmed down, he looked into the mirror, wondering if his words could pierce the veil and reach the goddess.

“Lady of Heaven, protector of us all,” Sho said quietly. “It is my wish that I be Bonded permanently to Matsumoto Jun, whose blood has mingled with mine. Wherever your light reaches, keep us in your favor.”

He felt Jun’s hand stroke along his face, a comforting gesture. He turned, looking to the side, seeing how carefully Jun was watching him.

He smiled gently, nodding. This prompted Jun to take Sho’s palm in his hand, thumb stroking along his skin. Jun took the knife from him, making a quick cut that Sho barely registered. Jun lingered longer this time than he had when they were younger. Each soft kiss against his hand was an apology as much as it was a way for Jun to taste his blood.

Sho let Jun wrap up the cut, eyes reddened with guilt. Finally, Jun set the knife down, looking into the mirror.

“Lady of Heaven, protector of us all,” Jun repeated, the same as Sho had moments earlier. “It is my wish that I be Bonded permanently to Sakurai Sho, whose blood has mingled with mine. Wherever your light reaches, keep us in your favor.”

They stood together, staring into the mirror, waiting for a sign.

The minutes passed, and a sign didn’t come.

Sho moved to lift the knife again, and Jun stopped him.

“No,” he said. “No…not yet…”

Jun only leaned in, putting his arms around him.

“Stay with me here. We’ll try again soon. But please…please let’s wait…”

“Jun…”

“Please. It hurts to hurt you…”

“It’s only a little cut…”

“It doesn’t feel that way to me,” Jun admitted, Sho barely able to hear his words. “You’ve bled for me in too many different ways already, I can’t bear it again so quickly. Let’s wait, okay?”

He shut his eyes, giving in, taking comfort in Jun’s closeness even here in this terrible place.

“Okay,” he agreed. “We’ll try again a little later.”

—

It was hard to tell time here just as it was hard to tell time anywhere in the Dark Realm. The hours passed, and they walked the island together, the Dark Lord’s eerily faithful recreation of his sister’s most beloved place.

They walked in the sand, they walked along the wood of the docks. They walked together through the empty forests, bare feet in the soft dirt. They hiked the old trail, stepped together across the stream, and looked out from the cliffs to the sea that seemed to have no end. They ate the flavorless food. They slept for long and dreamless hours. They shaved the stubble that sprouted on their faces, they trimmed their hair as it grew to cover their ears. 

And once, just once, during every passing of hours they decided to call a “day,” Sho would bring the knife to Jun’s palm or his arm or his chest, and Jun would do the same. Sho would taste Jun’s blood, praying that more of the jewel fragments were passing into his own body. He’d say the words and look into the mirror, pledging himself and his life to Jun again and again. 

The cuts would scab over, never deep enough to scar. Jun didn’t need any more than he already had. The scabs would dry, their skin would heal, they’d try again. They’d walk and walk until they felt they knew every inch of the island, speaking of days gone by and years that were lost. They’d pretend that the walls of a building meant they had some privacy in this realm. They’d shed their clothes, they’d touch and they’d kiss, they’d sweat and they’d sigh. They’d spend hours pretending this was a normal life, a full and complete life, holding on to one another in the dark.

But then Sho would pull away, slipping into his clothes, finding the knife. Jun would get up with tears in his eyes, taking Sho’s offered hand and following him back to the false Ama-no-Iwato.

As the days stretched to weeks stretched to months, Sho could feel the change start to take hold of him. It took longer for Jun to rouse him from sleep. His appetite started to fade. Where the jewel’s dust had only strengthened Jun over the years, it was steadily wearing Sho down. The magic was too strong, even after all the blessings the Lady had granted him. Poison, just as Jun had predicted.

He woke one night, a strong pain in his chest that he hadn’t felt since they’d been reunited here. He woke and saw that Jun was gone from his side. He struggled to his feet, struggled to dress. He was so tired, he was so tired. When he put his hand to the sliding door, he finally saw it. Saw the strange color, the purple shimmer in his veins visible even in the dark. Proof that his theory had been correct all along and that the fragments of the jewel were passing quickly from Jun’s blood to his own.

He stumbled out into the town, following the pain in his heart all the way to the Western Beach. He found Jun there, lying on his back in the sand, staring up into the empty sky. The unchanging sliver of moon was still the only light they had save for torches or anything Sho used his light magic to illuminate.

He approached quietly, resting his hands on his hips as he followed where Jun was looking, up into the emptiness above.

“No stars,” he said, not caring if it was all too obvious.

“No stars,” Jun said back.

“You see it then,” he murmured. “You see that there’s enough of her jewel within me to show.”

“I will not do it again,” Jun told him. “I will not do that ritual again. I won’t let you take any more than you already have.”

“I feel fine…” he lied.

“You’re going to die if we keep this up,” Jun snapped at him. 

“She might still come.”

“I can’t watch you fade away from me. If we stop now, if you take in no more of it, you might still live. You might still recover.” Jun sat up, indifferent to the sand falling from his hair and clothes. “Your prayers are not reaching her, so the sooner we accept that…”

“Do you still feel pain in your chest? Because I still feel it in mine. Do you still see the moon in the sky? Because I still see it.”

“Sho…”

“Her light is still with us. The Dark Lord waited for years for you to be ready to carry out his plans. Perhaps it is taking her just as long to find a way to reach us…”

“I will pledge myself as you’ve asked. I will keep talking into an empty mirror as you’ve asked. But I will not cut you again. I will not hurt you again. If this is the only time we will ever get to have, trapped here in this lonely place, then let’s not squander it any more.” Jun pressed his hand to his chest. “You asked if I still feel pain? I feel more every day, and you know why? It’s because I know you’re slipping away. And it’s scaring me.”

He frowned, sitting down in the sand beside him. 

“I’m sorry.”

“You’ve always worried about me. Don’t you think it’s time you let me worry about you in return?”

He smiled weakly, staring out at the waves that lapped against the shore just as they had on the true Isejima. “That reflects poorly on my role as your guardian.”

“Too bad,” was the response.

He leaned over, resting his head against Jun’s shoulder. “I want to go home,” he murmured.

He felt Jun’s arm come around him. “To Isejima?”

“Don’t think we’d be too welcome there.”

Jun snorted. “Don’t think I’d be welcome anywhere in the Stormlands after what happened.”

“I wouldn’t let them hurt you...”

Jun squeezed him tight, rubbing a hand up and down his arm. “Where could we go? Where could we go where nobody would know me? Because they’d take one look at my scars and know who I was. They’d compete to be the one to hunt me down, arrest me, execute me.”

“Then we’ll go to the lighthouse.”

“What lighthouse?”

Sho closed his eyes, imagining the small island. The small house made of stone. “It’s Nino’s island. One of Kokushi’s islands. Nobody lives there but birds. We’d be safe there.”

“Sounds boring.”

He grinned. “At least the food there would have a taste to it, back in our own world.”

“Maybe in time they’d forget what I’d done. We’d grow old, so old that nobody would know us,” Jun mused. “Then we could travel, just the two of us. See as much as we could.”

“Sounds good to me,” he said back, letting out a yawn. He was so tired now. He was so, so tired. “Could go see the Sky Lights.”

“Two old men with canes and no teeth, watching the Sky Lights,” Jun teased. “It sounds perfect.”

It did sound perfect, but Sho was slowly realizing that it might never happen. They’d been here for months now, and the Lady hadn’t come for them. Eventually the Dark Lord would return, his strength restored. They couldn’t live here like this forever, and they both knew it. 

Jun had probably known it for a while, had accepted it for a while. Sho in his eternal stubbornness had been clinging to a futile hope, to the faith that always defined him. Amaterasu didn’t know how to - or she didn’t feel the need to - rescue them from the Dark Realm. He’d have to accept it sooner or later.

He fell asleep sitting just like that, Jun holding him as the waves crashed to shore and the time remaining to them ticked away.

—

A few months later, the moon disappeared from the sky.

They emerged from one of the houses to find it gone one day, and Sho didn’t know what to say. Everything was darkness, the island, the sky. Perhaps this was it. Perhaps this was the end of the half-life they’d been living here together.

He cried silently, finally confronted by a world without her light in it.

But Jun was defiant. He encouraged Sho to use his magic and light a torch, something he could still do. “See,” Jun said as soon as the flames returned. “See, she hasn’t left you.”

Jun had always had his issues with Amaterasu, with Sho’s faith in her, but hearing his encouragements kept him from breaking down entirely.

The sheer power he’d been able to use in the days before they’d come through the portal had weakened over time. Touching the brand over his heart, those prayers had a much longer way to travel. Soon, perhaps, they’d go unanswered entirely.

“Come on, I’m sure you have a lot of questions to ask her this morning.”

With Jun by his side they walked back to Ama-no-Iwato, a path he’d tread with such hope as a boy and with such dread today. The sky was nothing but black. No stars, no stars.

They lit the other torches along the way. Just as the moon had vanished, so had the pain in his chest. He didn’t notice it was gone, so deep was the shock he’d felt when he’d looked up into an endless, empty sky.

Apparently Jun had stopped feeling it as well because they turned the corner and froze in their tracks.

Much like the Shadows he sent into the Stormlands, he seemed formless at first. A ghost without a face, constant motion, a blur of long limbs. But Sho seemed to know in an instant who was near the pedestal waiting for them, the Yata no Kagami held in what seemed to be the equivalent of a hand. 

The Dark Lord Tsukuyomi, faceless and barely defined, standing here in the cave he’d recreated. Perhaps his arrival had been foretold by the disappearing moon.

Sho moved in an instant, moving to stand before Jun. He hadn’t fully recovered from swallowing the unseen specks of Amaterasu’s jewel, his steps still slow. But no matter his limitations, he would protect Jun.

“She was always vain,” came the voice. Not Jun’s voice this time. The Dark Lord couldn’t claim him now, so the voice he heard was a slow rasp, irritated and jealous. “She always liked to be worshipped. Created an entire little display, her humans, created in her image. Created to praise her, pray to her. Always pretending at benevolence to keep her hold on you.”

Sho felt lightheaded when the Dark Lord turned, a ripple of darkness in the torchlight. The mirror left his hand, smashing against the cave wall and shattering entirely.

“Fragile, just like everything else she made.” The Dark Lord took a step in their direction, cruel laughter cutting the air. “Like you.”

He raised what seemed like arms, Shadows flying their way. Along the cave floor, walls, ceiling. Through the air in a way he’d never seen them move. Sho reacted as quickly as he could, right hand to his chest and left banishing them from sight.

“She made you so weak, so dependent on one another.”

Another pack of Shadows attacked, and Sho fought them off, anger growing with each new wave. But he didn’t know how long he could keep this up. His weakened powers, his distance from the Stormlands…his need to keep Jun safe behind him, to not let any of the Shadows come close.

The Dark Lord seemed to enjoy taunting him, filling the cave with Shadows, forcing Sho to use all the power that remained within him to keep them back, to keep them away. He wished now for Kusanagi, for the mirror to have been with him instead of here where they only came for Sho to pray these days. He wished he could give those objects to Jun to keep him safe.

Sho didn’t know how long he’d be able to fight.

Here in the Dark Lord’s domain, the Shadows had no need to steal him away. Instead they attacked differently.

Sho blocked and destroyed what seemed like dozens only for one to evade him. Instead of coiling around him and dragging him away, it flew at him just as sure as a blade. He turned too late, feeling it cut across his cheek.

This was probably how Jun had gotten all those scars, each and every single one, and the thought of it made his blood boil. He turned that rage outward, hand clutching his chest and screaming as he filled the cave with light.

And when it faded the Dark Lord was still standing, wisps of black mist still obscuring him from view, though he didn’t seem to be able to offer a counterattack just yet. “I ought to have chosen you, Guardian. Imagine how many of her little slaves I might have slaughtered if I’d fed all of her jewel to you.”

He was breathing heavily, blood dripping from his nose. He was using too much energy. He was so far away, and he was still weakened. This battle would not be able to continue forever, and despite the power she’d given him, he was mortal no matter which realm he found himself in.

Eventually, he was going to lose. But he would fight until the last of the light had left him. He would give everything he had.

“You cannot take him now,” Sho said, words tumbling from his mouth. “Even if you kill me, you cannot use him to hurt anyone again.”

“What if I take him from you first, Guardian?”

“No,” Sho replied, shaking his head. “No, I’m afraid you have to go through me to get to him. And if that’s what you choose to do, the power of Yasakani no Magatama that flows in my veins will die with me. So then you will never be able to succeed. Without the complete jewel, you will be trapped here in this pathetic world you’ve made.”

He could see the darkness build around Tsukuyomi, the cave walls starting to shake.

“Sho…” he heard from behind him. “Sho, please…”

It was devastating, knowing that Jun was going to have to watch him die first…

The Dark Lord attacked again, and Sho met it with a brilliant, horrifying explosion that sounded like a cannon blast, blowing him back, Jun tumbling down with him. 

He looked over, saw that it had been enough to halt the Dark Lord’s advance. The shadowy figure was leaning against the pedestal, stunned. But he knew it was only delaying the inevitable. Sho knew he couldn’t kill a god, no matter how much he tried.

“I love you.” He could feel Jun’s arms around him then, face buried against his back. “I love you.”

But he couldn’t push back against the next wave as strongly, groaning as he felt the Shadows tear through him, like thin needles, like a blade. He heard a roaring in his ears, heard Jun’s cries of despair.

He got back to his feet, shaking hand finding his heart. He pushed light forward, he felt Shadows push right back. The energies met in the middle, Sho attacking with light, the Dark Lord countering with darkness. He staggered forward, left hand extended and body aflame.

I have to protect him, he thought. I have to protect him, I have to protect him, I have to

The Shadows retreated in an instant, the Dark Lord pulling back. The motion of it threw him off, and he stumbled, right hand falling away from his chest. Away from his brand, away from her gift. His light stuttered and died. It was a trick, a cowardly feint, and Sho couldn’t block the counterattack fast enough this time. The Shadows returned like a thousand knives, hitting him dead on. The sheer force of it knocked him back, pulling the breath from his lungs with one astonished gasp.

“No!” he heard Jun scream from behind him.

He hit the ground hard, tears streaming from his eyes. Lady of Heaven, I wish I could have been stronger…

He lay there on his side on the floor of the cave, not even registering the pain. Jun was with him, Jun was close, fighting in vain to press his hands over the wounds. But there were far too many of them and each one far too deep.

“I’m sorry…” he muttered. 

“Watch him leave,” Sho heard the Dark Lord say, taunting Jun. “Watch the life leave his eyes, and know that you are the reason for it.”

In the distance, Sho could see the shards of the broken mirror.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, as much to Jun as to the goddess he’d devoted himself to with just as much fervor all these years. “I’m sorry.”

In that moment, he thought he saw one of the glass fragments…move.

Jun was crying. Jun was crying and Sho felt so damn sorry. He blinked, watching the fragments react. wondering if this was what it was like when you passed into the next life. Seeing things that weren’t really there, weren’t really happening.

Jun cried over him, Sho’s eyelids heavy as he watched the glass fuse back together. Watched the shattered mirror re-form.

He heard Jun’s pained groan as the cave filled with light. He shut his eyes, surprised by the warmth that flooded through him.

“You cannot be here!” the Dark Lord shouted, voice shaking the foundations of the cave itself.

The voice in reply was soft, indifferent. “And yet it seems I am, brother.”

In that moment, Sho realized what had happened. Finally, his prayers had been answered.

“This world is mine!”

“And it shall remain so,” the goddess Amaterasu said, “forever.”

“You cannot have them! I’ll kill the other as well!”

“No, brother. You won’t.”

Sho felt Jun cover him, holding him close, shielding him from whatever was to come. He felt the ground rumble and split beneath them, Tsukuyomi’s ability to keep his duplications here stable was starting to vanish. The false Ama-no-Iwato, the false Isejima…they disappeared. He felt Jun hold onto him tight, and they fell into black. Into nothingness.

But only for a few moments. Because the light caught them again. Even with his eyes closed he could feel it, the warmth of her love. She was here. The Lady of Heaven was here to save them.

Eventually he felt the darkness fade away, body aching even as the warmth comforted him. He felt an unfamiliar hand pressed to his face, stroking his skin with surprising gentleness.

“You’ve fought well for me,” the woman’s voice said, and Sho knew it was her, even as the life continued to slip away from him. “All these years.”

“Lady of Heaven,” he murmured, feeling her divine touch on his bloody, unworthy skin.

“You don’t belong here.”

His words were slurred. “…promised…pledged…” His mouth was dry, his brain slowing. “Jun…Jun.”

“I know, my sweet boy. I know.” He felt her fingers slide through his hair, and he desperately leaned toward the warmth of her. “Do not fear. I am always with you. Wherever my light reaches.”

Sho felt her lips press against his forehead, and then he felt nothing at all.

—

He woke, finding himself in an unfamiliar bed. He smelled a familiar cologne.

“Ueda-kun,” he murmured, lips and mouth dry.

“Ah, aniki. Welcome back.”

He didn’t open his eyes, merely sighing in relief as he felt Ueda gently lift his head, felt the dribble of cool water enter his mouth.

“Not too much, orders from Kokubun-sensei.”

“Fine.”

“You’re in the prison infirmary. Your fever spiked so high, you ought to be dead.”

Wait.

Wait.

“Prison…infirmary…?”

“Yeah,” came Ueda’s response. “It’s not like they were going to put a guy in your shape back in solitary.”

“What day is it?”

“You got sick, like, three weeks ago?”

He opened his eyes, alarmed. Where was he? _When_ was he? 

“Hey,” Ueda said, resting a hand to his arm. “You’re going to be okay now. It’ll take a little while to recover but…”

Usually Sho’s dreams and nightmares faded away, few details staying with him very long. But no, he remembered everything. Nino’s arrival, the journey to Kaido, the attack, going through the portal…

“I’m on my lunch break, so I need to go. I’ll check back in with you again though.” Ueda ducked his head, looking a little embarrassed. “I’m glad you came back.”

Sho waited for Ueda to leave, examining himself. Just as he had when he’d experienced the illness in prison the last time, he’d lost weight. But when he looked inside his white prison tunic, he realized that things were not quite the same. There was no scarring as there’d been before - his red sun was there as though it had never left him. 

All of this was Amaterasu’s doing, somehow. She’d sent him here, back to the point where everything had changed. And everything had changed because of…

“Jun,” he thought, pressing his hand to his chest and feeling nothing. None of the pain that had returned to him on the voyage at sea, none of the proof that there was still a Jun to protect.

Tears flooded his eyes. He was stuck here in Nakodojima, just as he’d been before. He hadn’t learned that Jun had come back through the portal until Nino’s arrival. If some things were still fated to happen, that was months away. Months of recovering his strength would come first. 

Would Nino still come for him? Would it start all over again? Would things be different this time?

Had she even brought Jun back?

He lay back against the pillows, feeling weak. Remembering the Dark Lord’s attack and shivering. After all that time in the Dark Realm, he’d grown used to Jun’s constant presence, the warmth of him at his side. Laying here now, he’d never felt so lonely.

And yet he had his brand. Perhaps he even had the powers she’d given him. And he had all those memories. They were too vivid to be false. Those things had happened to him. To him and Jun both. But perhaps the goddess refused to let them happen to him again.

He could still hear her voice in his head, telling him she was always with him. All he could do was pray that she would show him the way. All he could do was be patient. And wait.

—

Unlike the last time, Sho refused to give in to melancholy. He had to get better. He had to be strong. Kokubun-sensei was a bit alarmed to find Sho out of bed a few days later, trying to navigate around the room, clinging to chairs and other beds in the infirmary.

“You nearly died,” the doctor told him with a disapproving look in his eyes. “I’d advise you to take it easy.”

“The Lady of Heaven has given me a second chance,” he replied.

“That she has, so don’t squander it!”

Perhaps they were speaking of different things, but Sho didn’t much mind. He’d focus on his recovery. He’d focus on the time that had been given back to him.

Just as it had happened before, the general prison population wasn’t too keen on Sho rejoining them. All the assurances in the world that he wasn’t contagious didn’t seem to matter to them. But that only meant he was placed back in solitary confinement when he was released from the infirmary.

He ate well, slept well, took walks in the prison yard. And he took advantage of being alone in the dreary underground cells for the rest of the day. His powers were there, not back to full strength yet, but just as before Sho required no Light Staff. He merely had to press a hand to his heart and let his thoughts guide the light. He used his powers infrequently though, knowing that there’d be panic and confusion if he got caught.

He woke every morning, pestering Ueda whenever he came in to drop off a food tray or to empty his chamber pot.

“Has there been any news?” he asked that morning.

“What do you mean ‘news’?”

“Has anything new happened? Any new folks visiting? Any rumors spreading?”

“Aniki, do I look like the town gossip?”

Sho smiled, trying not to let his anxious feelings show. 

“Sorry…I just…it can be boring down here sometimes,” he admitted, not daring to tell Ueda the real reason he wished for news. He needed to know if a miracle had occurred, far to the north. He needed to know what the Lady had done with Jun.

Ueda looked apologetic. “If I hear anything interesting, I’ll tell you. How’s that?”

“That’s perfect. Thanks.”

But it turned out that Sho didn’t have to wait for something to make its way through the prison grapevine and into the guards’ ears.

It was a little more than a month since he’d woken from his mysterious illness (again) that Warden Inohara called for everyone to be brought out into the prison yard. This was not something ordinary, and Sho was escorted up from solitary to hear it. 

Everyone had gathered. Every prisoner, every guard was in attendance. A small platform had been set up at one end of the yard, and soon the Warden arrived, holding on to a wooden megaphone so his voice might carry across to all of them. Sho had stayed back, not wanting to cause any problems among the prisoners who were still nervous around him. He hung back, leaning against the fence for support. Something serious had happened, and he had to be ready to accept whatever that might be.

Warden Inohara lifted the megaphone to his mouth. “There’s been a miracle!”

Murmurs erupted throughout the crowd, a mixture of gasps and doubtful snickering, depending on the beliefs of everyone gathered. Sho held tight to the fence, the metal cold as he awaited the news.

That a nobleman from Kaido who’d been lost to the Dark Realm had returned. 

He shut his eyes, steeling himself for the worst. 

“The Jewel of Benevolence, Amaterasu’s sacred stone, has been found on the island of Shuhon. It was recovered at Fujisan. The object that was missing for centuries, cruelly stolen by the Dark Lord, has come back home!”

Sho sagged a little, confused. Yasakani no Magatama was whole? Her beloved jewel had been taken back from the Dark Realm? That meant the fragments he’d taken from Jun were no longer inside him. The goddess had somehow removed them from his bloodstream. 

But if her jewel had been recovered, if in her journey to the Dark Realm she’d managed to get it back from her thieving brother, then what did this mean for Jun? Sho had only had fragments within him after going through the portal. An event that would happen again in several weeks if time continued as it had before.

Jun’s experience had been different. The jewel had been fed to him, speck by speck, for fifteen years before he’d come back. Before Sho’s illness. Had the goddess taken it back from him somehow, the same as she’d managed to take it back from Sho?

He was escorted back to his lonely cell, full of questions. Even as his body grew strong again, his mind was tormented. Over the next few weeks he overheard conversations, bits and pieces from the guards and the other prisoners. Rumor had it that Yasakani no Magatama was sealed within a barrier of light, stronger than what had existed before. This time it might keep the Dark Lord’s prying hands off of it. 

The impact was only just now registering across the Stormlands. Without the stolen jewel, it was impossible for the Dark Lord to open portals, to send his Shadows into their world. After centuries of incursions, his advances had finally been halted. No doubt he would try again someday, most people Sho overheard seemed to conclude, but for now they were saved. The people of the Stormlands had finally been saved. After centuries, the Lady of Heaven had finally taken back what was rightfully hers.

No longer would people be dragged to the Dark Realm. No longer would the people of Isejima be drawn into battle, raised from birth to serve others, to put themselves at risk. It truly was a miracle, Sho knew. It was a historic moment, a turning point in the Stormlands.

And yet he couldn’t help his selfish feelings. Weeks and weeks since he’d woken again, thrown back into this time and into this place, and he’d heard nothing of any other “miracles.” No news from Kaido, even though something as profound as someone returning from the Dark Realm would have reached even Nakodojima by now.

Soon it was summer, four months since his body had been struck by illness. More than three months since he’d woken in the infirmary, realizing that Amaterasu had reset her world, had reset Sho’s place within it. His heart beat, his lungs drew breath. He ate and slept and if he chose to, he could create light with merely a thought. 

But there was no pain in his chest, no signal that the most important person had come back with him. No proof that Jun was alive anywhere.

The day that Ninomiya Kazunari and Ohno Satoshi had shown up at Nakodojima Prison to take him away came and went. The day he would have been reunited with Aiba Masaki near the lighthouse came and went. And the emergency meeting of the Council of Five was never called.

It meant that Lady Rinko was still alive, able to be with her children as she ruled over the island her father had left in her charge. It meant that Clan Nagase’s leader was still alive, that the heir to Clan Hirano had not been lost. It meant that Matsumoto Castle still stood, far to the north, jutting out of the hills. 

Sho ate his meals. Sho prayed and prayed and prayed. And Sho walked in the yard every day, always with his eyes to the gate, waiting for Ueda to come through and tell him that for the first time since he’d arrived, some visitors had come calling.

Confronted with so many reasons to give up hope, Sho still refused. He refused to give up on the memories that still felt so real, those weeks and months on the false Isejima. 

“You’ve fought well for me,” Amaterasu had told him. He had to believe in her, had to believe that she wouldn’t make him suffer for too much longer.

And so Sho waited, putting a hand to his heart and crying out in silence.

_Come back to me_.

—

There was a letter on the meal tray brought to his cell one morning. His cellmate Taisuke let out a long and lonely sigh.

“Nobody ever sends me letters,” he lamented, lying back on his bunk.

Sho merely smiled, picking it up. He ate his fill and set the tray back, examining the familiar seal. A pine tree and cherry tree, side by side. He broke the seal.

_To my son as he enters his thirty-ninth year. To Sho._

_Your father has a new favorite saying. “This island is plagued with idleness!” Without any need for contracts, the young people of Isejima have nothing to do. I walk to the marketplace and find them hanging about, aimless and bored. Some might call it a blessing to have their children at home, to not have to worry about them serving some nobleman on a distant shore. But I will admit that there’s been a little shift of late. There’s been what you might call a ‘traveling boom!’ They’re leaving Isejima, many for the first time. Not for the honor of service, but simply to wander. To explore the world that’s new and open to them, the world that’s new to us all. I’m old now, and perhaps I envy them their freedom._

_Sho, I wish every day that we had never called you home. That we had let our Little Wanderer keep wandering. But the one thing we cannot change is the past._

_I pray that her light will shine upon you always. You are loved, always loved._

_Your mother_

He folded the letter anew, exhaling softly. He was just tucking it inside his pillow to join the others he had kept there when a guard approached.

“Sakurai,” he said. “You have a visitor.”

“Letters _and_ visitors?” Taisuke complained. “Unbelievable!”

“Sakurai!” the guard called again. “Get your ass up!”

Sho, still a bit stunned, got to his feet. The cell door was tugged open, and he followed the guard from the block, across the yard to the administrative offces. He held his breath when the door to the visitation room opened.

“Sho-chan!”

The guard shut the door, and Sho collapsed back against it.

“Masaki.”

Aiba’s embrace was warm, comforting. And entirely unexpected. They cried and they cried for several minutes, simply overjoyed to see each other again. Sho quickly learned that this Aiba Masaki was not the one he’d left behind that day to enter the Dark Realm.

He still spoke quickly, excitedly, telling Sho everything that had happened since they’d parted on Kaido. The details were largely the same, including his friendship with the second son of Lady Kazuko, who still ruled Kokushi with a deft hand. When the goddess’ jewel had reappeared, he and Matsuoka-san had closed up shop for good on the development of light bombs.

“No more portals, no more need to go down that dangerous road,” Aiba said. Instead he and Matsuoka-san were selling curative items only, seeking only to restore health.

But eventually Sho grew impatient, much as he was thrilled at their reunion. “Why are you here? After all this time, why now?”

Aiba aimed for an enigmatic look, but he’d always been an open book. Enigmatic on Aiba Masaki came out looking more like constipation. “Sho-chan, it’s just…it’s just a lot to tell you…”

“After everything I’ve been through, Aiba-kun, I think I can handle a lot.”

“First things first, I’m here on behalf of Lord Ninomiya Kazunari, who is personally financing your release from this prison.” Aiba paused, cocking his head. “And as I expected, you don’t look too surprised.”

Sho looked down, forgetting that this Aiba had not already lived through this scenario before. “I’m…I’m just shocked, that’s all…I’ve been here for so long and…”

“Sho-chan.” He looked up, seeing fresh tears brimming in Aiba’s soft brown eyes. “I can’t keep this from you any longer. Nino would say some silly thing about dramatic tension or whatever but I simply have to say it. Sho-chan, he’s waiting for you.”

He felt lightheaded. “Lord Ninomiya is waiting?”

“No.” Aiba shook his head. “I’m not talking about Nino.”

Sho couldn’t find words, breaking down.

“It’s true,” Aiba said, taking hold of his hands, squeezing tight. “It’s true.”

Lord Ninomiya Kazunari was off brokering some deal on Kaido with Lady Rinko. Ohno, of course, was with him there. Though there wasn’t much need for a nobleman to have a Light Guardian these days, Nino refused to release him from his duties. With Lady Rinko distracted on Kaido, it had been easy for Nino to send his trusted representative Aiba here in his stead with money to pay off Warden Inohara. Nobody on Kaido would find out what had happened to their long-lost prisoner.

The vessel waiting offshore wasn’t as fast or sleek as Nino’s Niji, but it was a sturdy enough Kokushi ship, and Aiba promised they would make good time.

“He probably wanted to tell you everything on his own,” Aiba told him later that day as they sailed away from Nakodojima. “It’s just…everything is so amazing, I can’t keep it to myself. I suppose I can let him be angry about that later.”

Only the five of them would ever know the whole truth. About the way history had been rewritten. About the Dark Realm. And about how the goddess had saved them.

Only the five of them. 

Ninomiya Kazunari. Ohno Satoshi. Aiba Masaki. Sakurai Sho.

And Matsumoto Jun.

He’d been found huddling for warmth near a shrine to Amaterasu, halfway up the slopes of Fujisan. The purple Yasakani no Magatama, completely whole, had been clutched in his shivering hand. As soon as the jewel had been plucked from him by a priest, it had grown hot to the touch, a bright light emerging. It vanished from the priest’s hand, only for it to show up in its old place near the mountain’s peak, a glowing barrier keeping it safe. 

With the chaos that resulted at the jewel’s return, the man who’d been found holding it seemed less significant. He’d been held in a local jail for questioning, but had quickly been forgotten as the Stormlands realized the magnitude of what had just happened.

He’d fled, lying about his identity. Few people in Shuhon would have recognized him on sight, especially after having been lost for fifteen years. It had been easier to lie, of course, because there wasn’t a single scar on him. Not a single black marking. Despite his less-than-perfect beliefs, the goddess had plucked him out of the Dark Realm, banishing the darkness from him for good.

He learned quickly that getting to Kokushi, finding his way to Lord Ninomiya Kazunari, was not something easily accomplished. Going home to Kaido would only bring trouble, more declarations of miracles. Presenting himself to Nino, however, would lead him back to Sho. It had taken him over a year, working odd and anonymous jobs on Shuhon to eventually get himself onto a ship that could get him to Tokaishi.

He’d told Nino, Ohno, and Aiba the truth. Because Sho had trusted them, Jun trusted them in return. His faith in them was justified. Once they’d wrapped their heads around it, all of it, the reunion had been set.

“I’d have brought him here with me,” Aiba explained, “but Nino would get in a lot of trouble for harboring him if you were discovered. You’ll both have to lie low for a while, and I’m sorry.”

Sho realized then that the Lady of Heaven had taken the pain in his chest away for good. Not because Jun was in another realm. But because Jun was safe now. The long nightmare had finally ended.

—

Aiba decided it was best that he stay offshore, letting Sho be rowed to the island. Aiba claimed it was so he could “keep an eye out for pirates,” but in truth, it was to give them privacy.

He hopped out of the rowboat, nothing with him but the clothes on his back. They’d arrived after nightfall, rowing in the starlight. The stars were a little different here than they appeared from the Western Beach or from the balcony of Matsumoto Castle. But still, they were beautiful. They were perfect.

The sailors headed back for Aiba and the ship, where they’d check in a few days later. Sho’s steps grew stronger as he made it up the beach, started walking through the grass. It might be weeks or months or years before they could safely leave this place. Perhaps Nino would eventually provide false papers for them. Even if Kaido and Isejima would have to be avoided, the Stormlands had more than 6,000 islands. Eventually enough time would pass that they could leave and explore as many of them as they could. Anonymous and free.

For now, he walked with joy in his heart and peace in his soul after so many years with neither. The lighthouse stood guard over the stone house below it, and Sho couldn’t keep the smile from his face. He offered prayers to the Lady of Heaven, who had forced him down a difficult path…but who had also rewarded him beyond imagining.

The door to the stone house opened, and a familiar figure offered him a look of haughty impatience as he leaned against the doorframe, holding up a lantern to greet his visitor. He’d grown tall and strong, and just as Aiba had told him, there wasn’t a black scar in sight.

Matsumoto Jun looked Sho up and down, making some sort of assessment. 

“Hello there,” he said, just as he had on the day they’d met.

“Hello, my lord,” Sho replied, just as he had on the day they’d met, bowing his head.

There was the slightest look of nervousness in Jun’s dark brown eyes, an inkling of doubt, even after all they’d been through. 

“Will you reject me too, Sakurai Sho?”

Sho grinned in reply. “That remains to be seen, my lord.”

They kissed softly, slowly, reunited at last beneath an ocean of starlight.


End file.
